News Release

July 22, 2009

Contact: Erin Angell Collins, 202-220-6317, ecollins@nw.org
Douglas Robinson, 202-220-2360, drobinson@nw.org

NeighborWorks® Organizations Apply for $938 Million
in Neighborhood Stabilization Program Funding

Washington, DC – Today NeighborWorks America announced that 48 NeighborWorks organizations with their local and regional partners are applying for $938 million in Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) funds in the second round of competitive funding. More than eight million homes are expected to enter into foreclosure through 2012, which means millions of homes are likely to be left vacant and abandoned, deteriorating neighborhoods and destabilizing communities.

“The nation is faced with rapid downward pressure on neighborhoods that is unlike anything we have seen in generations. The crisis has not only affected our housing market, but our entire economy, and requires a response as intense and comprehensive as the challenge itself,” said Ken Wade, CEO of NeighborWorks America.

A comprehensive response is exactly why many of the local NeighborWorks organizations have partnered with their state or local government, the private sector, and other nonprofit partners in applying for the second round of NSP funding. 

Consortium partnerships that submitted applications to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will likely be among the most competitive applicants for NSP 2 funds.  Each partner brings their unique strengths and expertise in a variety of disciplines needed to effectively stabilize communities, including assembling capital, property acquisition, rehabilitation or demolition, homeownership education, land banking, and asset management.  Nonprofit housing and community development organizations, government and private sector partners that combine their strengths will amplify their ability to transform the housing crisis into an opportunity to rebuild neighborhoods and create healthy, stable communities.  These cross-sector partnerships will be most effective in navigating their community through the crisis. 

Local nonprofit community development organizations like the NeighborWorks organizations that applied for NSP 2 funding know their neighborhoods block-by-block, neighbor-by-neighbor. For the last 30 years nonprofits have been stewards of stable neighborhoods, brokering successful partnerships with federal, state, and local government and the private sector that have helped to improve the lives of millions of Americans through community revitalization, financial education, and the creation of safe, decent affordable housing. 

The knowledge and experience of nonprofit community development organizations regarding the cost-effective acquisition of vacant and abandoned properties, combined with their skill in rehabilitating properties into affordable homeownership or rental opportunities, is critical to long-term success.  Nonprofits bring proven methods to attract residents back to these once-thriving areas with quality affordable housing and greater employment opportunities, improved community services, and green space. 

“The collective knowledge and experience, and effective tools and strategies employed by nonprofits can remedy the unprecedented challenges created by the housing crisis. By working with our government and private sector partners to stabilize communities hit hardest by the foreclosure crisis, local NeighborWorks organizations have the opportunity to rebuild healthy and sustainable communities,” said Wade.  “We thank HUD and Congress for making this investment in communities and the nonprofits that serve them possible.  Allowing nonprofits to compete for this funding acknowledges the important contribution that these organizations have made to community revitalization projects across the country.”

For more information about NeighborWorks’ community stabilization efforts, please contact Erin Angell Collins, 202-220-6317, ecollins@nw.org, or visit www.nw.org.

About NeighborWorks America

NeighborWorks America creates opportunities for people to improve their lives and strengthen their communities by providing access to homeownership and to safe and affordable rental housing. Since 1991, we have assisted nearly 1.2 million low- to moderate-income families with their housing needs. Much of our success is achieved through our support of the NeighborWorks network ― more than 230 community development organizations working in more than 4,400 urban, suburban and rural communities in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. In the last five years, NeighborWorks organizations have generated more than $15 billion in reinvestment in these communities. NeighborWorks America is the nation’s leading trainer of community development and affordable housing professionals.