Federal funds for foreclosures

More than $3 million will flow into Yuba and Sutter counties in the coming months to help restore, rent out and sell homes caught in foreclosure limbo.

Roiled by one of the nation's worst home mortgage crises, California on Thursday announced $92.7 million of grants to counties and cities trying to keep homes emptied by insolvent owners from becoming blight and crime magnets.

Yuba County is slated to gain $1.7 million, and Sutter County, Yuba City and Live Oak will share $1.79 million from the funds, which the federal government has provided in its Neighborhood Stabilization Program. The state's Department of Housing and Community Development will pass the money to local governments.

The 20 or more houses county officials hope to renew with the grants would be only a dent in a shortage of public housing, but Yuba-Sutter officials called even small steps helpful.

"We know we'll have a large population (of homes) to choose from, so we'll want to start as quickly as possible," said Sean Powers, finance and administrative manager for Yuba County's Community Development and Services Agency.

Though both counties will seek to buy and repair derelict homes, they differ in their plans to fill them.

Sutter County, which announced its payout in June, will add 10 to 15 restored houses to its stock of public housing, whose waiting list has grown with the two-year recession, according to Gustavo Becerra, program director for the Consolidated Housing Authority of Sutter County.

More than 2,600 families are on the county's waiting list for apartments as collapses in the building and other trades have helped push the local unemployment rate north of 18 percent.

Meanwhile, Yuba County likely will acquire eight to 10 homes and then resell them as soon as repairs are finished to raise revenue for more home restorations, Powers said Thursday.

Nationwide, the federal stabilization program will release $3.9 billion from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to buy and renew derelict housing. Counties and cities also can use the funds toward land banks, demolition of blighted buildings, redevelopment of vacant sites, and financing revelopment.

Who gets what?

Grants awarded through the Neighborhood Stabilization Program

• U.S.: $3.9 billion

• California: $92.7 million

• Yuba County: $1.7 million

• Sutter County: $1.79 million, shared among the county, Yuba City and Live Oak

Source: California Department of Housing and Community Development

Contact Appeal-Democrat reporter Howard Yune at 749-4708 or hyune@appealdemocrat.com.