Colorado gets $53 million to redevelop homes

By John Rebchook, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published October 1, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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Colorado is receiving $53 million to buy and redevelop foreclosed and abandoned homes, under the federal National Stabilization Program that begins today and ends Sept. 30, 2011.

Nationwide, the Department of Housing and Urban Development is providing $3.9 billion in community block grants for the program.

"This is a one-time thing," said Ryan McMaken, of the Colorado Division of Housing, which is receiving $34 million of the $53 million.

"This is not money that has come to the state before and it is not likely to come again."

In addition to the housing division, Denver is receiving $6 million; Adams County, $4.6 million; Aurora, $4.47 million; and Colorado Springs, $3.9 million.

Counties hit hard by foreclosures, such as Weld and Pueblo, did not get any allocations from HUD, although the state will work to identify groups that could use the money to help neighborhoods in those counties plagued by abandoned houses, McMaken said.

If the money is used to buy homes outright, it will not go far, McMaken said.

For example, if the average cost of a home was $175,000, it could be used to purchase about 303 foreclosed homes, a fraction of the foreclosed homes on the market.

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