Lake County is receiving $3,136,967 in funding through U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Community Development Block Grant Program, under the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA). Notified in late September 2008 that Lake County was eligible for these funds in what is called the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP), the Lake County Department of Community Services, with the assistance of Guardian CRM, Inc., wrote the Lake County NSP Plan. The plan was available for public comment from November 10 -24, 2008. It was then presented to the Lake County Board of County Commissioners on November 24, 2008 and approved. It was then submitted to HUD for their approval by the deadline of December 1, 2008. Lake County Department of Community Services received notification that its plan was approved on January 19, 2009. That plan is available for reading or downloads below.

A review committee made up of members of the Department of Community Services and the Lake County Affordable Housing Advisory Committee are currently reviewing proposals to choose a consultant that will manage the daily operation of the program. That review should be completed in the next few weeks. When the consultant is chosen, the Department of Community Services and the consultant will write a Request for Proposals to find organizations, such as Habitat for Humanity, that will then purchase the foreclosed homes, rehab them and then sell them as affordable housing. The funds received from the sale of those homes will then be used to purchase more foreclosed homes for rehab and resale.

News and Updates

November 4, 2009 – Lake County submitted its fourth quarter, 2008-09, Quarterly Performance Report (QPR) for the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on October 30, 2009. That report can be viewed below. Any questions concerning the QPR or NSP can be directed to Bill Gearing at wgearing@lakecountyfl.gov or by calling 352-742-3918.

2008-09 Performance Report (4th Quarter)

August 10, 2009 – The NOTICE TO PUBLIC OF A FINDING OF NO SIGNIFICANT IMPACT (FONSI) ON THE ENVIRONMENT AND NOTICE TO PUBLIC OF REQUEST FOR RELEASE OF FUNDS (RROF) #B-08-UN-12-0008 was published in the Lake Sentinel on August 9, 2009. The Unspecified Site Strategy for the County’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program is posted below. All interested agencies, groups and persons disagreeing with this decision are invited to submit written comments for consideration by the recipient to the CDBG office at Community Services/CDBG; 315 W. Main St., Tavares, FL 32778 or by email to Bill Gearing, wgearing@lakecountyfl.gov .  Such written comments should be received at the address specified on or before 6 p.m. on Tuesday, August 25, 2009.  All such comments so received will be considered and the recipient will not request the removal of environmental conditions or take any administrative action on the above project until the date specified in the preceding sentence.

Steps for Developing an Unspecified Site Strategy for Housing Related Activities

July 21, 2009 - The Lake County Board of County Commissioners approved the contracts for Habitat for Humanity, Leesburg Housing Authority, Lifestream, and New Beginnings to partner with the County to implement its Neighborhood Stabilization Program 1 funding.  An orientation meeting with these partners is being planned for August 6 to discuss recent guideline changes and specifics on how the program will be implemented. RFP 09-0220 will close tomorrow, July 22. This RFP is a supplemental release of the RFP that Habitat for Humanity, Leesburg Housing Authority, Lifestream, and New Beginnings responded to. The plan is to get at least one more non-profit housing agency to work on this project with the County.

May 26, 2009 - The Request for Proposals (RFP) to get the non-profit housing partners that will purchase the foreclosed homes, rehab them, and resell as affordable housing was released last Thursday, May 21. The RFP can be viewed on the Procurement Services web site.

Once these agencies are chosen, we will work with them as quickly as possible to get to the purchase and then rehab phases of the program underway.

The Lake County Board of County Commissioners has also approved applying for NSP2 funds. That application is due July 17, 2009.

June 22, 2009 - The Lake County Department of Community Services has completed a revision to its Neighborhood Stabilization Program allocation.  Total anticipated allocation is still $3,136,967.  Per request from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, our use of Eligible Activity A: Financing Mechanism should be changed to Eligible Activity B: Purchase and Rehabilitation. All proposed activities will benefit low, moderate, and middle income persons as defined in Title III of Division B of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act, 2008.

April 21, 2009 - The Lake County Board of County Commissioners approved the selection of the Guardian/Langton team as the consultant who will manage the County’s NSP plan. We will now start meeting with them to create an RFP to request interested non-profits to submit proposals to identify foreclosed properties, then purchase, rehab and resell them. We expect this process to take about three weeks.

March 31, 2009 update – The NSP Review Committee has recommended Langton Associates, Inc./Guardian CRM, Inc. as the consultant to manage the County’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program. The contract has been written and signed by the consultant. The contract will be going before the Board of County Commissioners in the next two to three weeks for their approval.

The revised Plan will be available for public inspection and comment between June 22 and July 6, 2009: Revised Neighborhood Stabilization Program Plan

Any questions regarding this Plan should be directed to Bill Gearing at (352) 742-6515 or by e-mail at wgearing@lakecountyfl.gov.  All comments received will be considered.

Neighborhood Stabilization Program Plan
Revised Neighborhood Stabilization Program Plan

Facts about the Neighborhood Stabilization Program:

• The new Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) provides targeted emergency assistance to state and local governments to acquire and redevelop foreclosed properties that might otherwise become sources of abandonment and blight within their communities.
  
  
• HUD, following Congress’s direction, determined the allocations based on the number and percent of foreclosures, subprime mortgages and mortgage defaults and delinquencies.
  
  
• HERA calls for the funds to be used to:
  • Establish financing mechanisms for purchase and redevelopment of foreclosed upon homes and residential properties, including such mechanisms as soft-seconds, loan loss reserves, and shared-equity loans for low- and moderate-income homebuyers;
  • Purchase and rehabilitate homes and residential properties that have been abandoned or foreclosed upon, in order to sell, rent, or redevelop such homes and properties;
  • Establish land banks for homes that have been foreclosed upon; and
  • Demolish blighted structures.

• Grantees are permitted to spend up to 10 percent of the grant, plus program income, for administrative costs.
  
  
• The funds must be used (obligated) no later than 18 months after receipt.
  
  
• The grantee must use at least 25 percent of the NSP funds for the purchase and redevelopment of abandoned or foreclosed homes or residential properties that will be used to house individuals or families whose incomes do not exceed 50 percent of the area median income. All activities funded must benefit low- and moderate-income persons whose income does not exceed 120 percent of the area median income.
  
  
• Homeowners that are assisted with NSP funds are required to undergo eight hours or pre-purchase counseling from a HUD-approved provider.
  
  
• Green building techniques are encouraged.