Toolkit: Reclaiming Foreclosed Properties for Community Benefit

Posted by on August 31, 2009

The long-term effects of the foreclosure crisis are only now sinking in for many communities, as homes languish unattended and property values plummet across entire neighborhoods. But a new PolicyLink tool shows how some cities and states are dealing with this “second wave of the foreclosure tsunami.”

The new PolicyLink tool, “Reclaiming Foreclosed Properties for Community Benefit”, highlights promising practices that are already underway for localities looking to stabilize their local housing market and prevent blight from spreading.

With more than five million mortgages in some stage of foreclosure and more than 15 million Americans “underwater” with homes worth less than they owe on their mortgage, the foreclosure crisis remains a very real threat to countless communities.

Some of the most promising practices and stories featured in the report include:

* Creating Community Land Trusts
* Marketing Foreclosed Homes and Offering Tax Incentives to Buyers
* Rehabbing or Demolishing Vacant Properties

For more on the tool, please visit: http://www.policylink.org/foreclosuretool