HUD SECRETARY ANNOUNCES NATIONAL FIRST LOOK PROGRAM TO HELP COMMUNITIES STABILIZE NEIGHBORHOODS HARD-HIT BY FORECLOSURE

September 2, 2010 By: HUD

WASHINGTON - U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan has announced an unprecedented agreement with the nation's top mortgage lenders to offer selected state and local governments, and nonprofit organizations a "first look" or right of first refusal to purchase foreclosed hom...

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Agriculture Secretary Vilsack Announces Recovery Act Support for Public Safety, Community Centers, Public Schools and Health Care Facilities

September 2, 2010 By: USDA

WASHINGTON - Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has announced investments in 28 states that will create jobs and improve needed infrastructure in rural communities across the nation. The projects are funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act).

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Foreclosures' heavy toll on health

September 2, 2010 By: Oakland Tribune

Maria Ramirez is one of the fortunate ones. She's lived for more than 10 years with her family in ZIP code 94621 in Oakland, one the East Bay neighborhoods hardest hit by home foreclosures. But she fought back when Wachovia Bank began foreclosing on her house in 2009, and won an affordable loan modi...

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Stabilizing Neighborhoods: Lessons Learned from the Field

September 2, 2010 By: Federal Reserve Board Governor Elizabeth A. Duke

Good morning. I want to welcome you to the Federal Reserve Board for this two-day summit to examine the problems associated with vacant and abandoned property and to explore innovative approaches to neighborhood stabilization.

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Affordable Housing Scarce in Post_Katrina New Orleans

September 1, 2010 By: GlobeSt. com

NEW ORLEANS-Five years after Hurricane Katrina devastated this vibrant city, affordable housing options are limited, particularly for low-income women who previously lived in public housing.

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17,000 people attend loan-modification marathon in West Palm Beach

September 1, 2010 By: Palm Beach Post - FL

WEST PALM BEACH — The Neighborhood Assistance Corp. of America is finishing up its five-day mortgage modification event tonight with about 31 percent of homeowners walking out with a new lower monthly loan payment

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Record number in government anti-poverty programs

August 31, 2010 By: USA Today

WASHINGTON — Government anti-poverty programs that have grown to meet the needs of recession victims now serve a record one in six Americans and are continuing to expand.

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Neighborhoods need a voice in affordable housing

August 31, 2010 By: Citizen-Times - NC

Planning & Zoning is voting Wednesday on a proposal eliminating public notification of “affordable” and/or “sustainable” projects seeking increased density above the zoning limits. The right to speak either for or against these projects will be taken away. The right of filing a protest petition requ...

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A new vision for public housing complex in Norfolk

August 31, 2010 By: The Virginia Pilot

From the front door of the city's new Grandy Village Learning Center, visitors can see clear through a two-story wall of windows, beyond the outdoor gazebo and out onto the calm ripple of the Elizabeth River.

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It’s Not Over Until It’s in the Rules

August 30, 2010 By: Gretchen Morgenson, NY Times

NOW for the heavy lifting. Having passed the Dodd-Frank Act earlier this summer, the bill that aspires to reorder our financial universe in the wake of the most serious economic crisis in generations, Congress has moved on to other matters. Regulators are left to write the rules that will make finan...

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