Four Mass. housing organizations get grants for rehabs

BOSTON – Attorney General Martha Coakley announced in June that up to $5 million in grants will be awarded to housing organizations throughout the state – including one in Fall River – to promote the rehabilitation of distressed and abandoned properties.
The Abandoned Housing Initiative Receivership Fund (AHI Fund) will assist local communities in mitigating the impacts of the foreclosure crisis, Coakley said in a statement. Four organizations were chosen to receive an initial $2 million to administer throughout their corresponding region, with an additional $3 million to be made available at a later date as the progress of selected organizations is monitored.
Fall River will use the funding to enable its Community Development Agency to administer grants and loans in southeastern Massachusetts, including the communities of Barnstable, Brockton, New Bedford and Taunton, to fund rehabilitation costs for abandoned, foreclosed and/or vacant residential properties.
The other three organizations that will serve as fund administrators and receive a total of $500,000 each to distribute to a range of eligible municipalities over the two-year grant period:
• Chelsea Restoration Corporation will oversee a program to revitalize distressed neighborhoods and communities in the Metro-Boston region that have suffered the impact of foreclosure clusters, promote homeownership and support revitalization efforts.
• Massachusetts Housing Investment Corp. will provide housing-rehab loans and grants.
• Worcester Community Housing Resources Inc. will target properties in central Massachusetts that have been most affected by foreclosed and abandoned properties, and provide outreach and training materials. •

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