Delaware communities with foreclosed and abandoned properties will be getting special assistance — $19.6 million of it — shortly, due to federal grant money recently allocated to the state.

    The money is coming from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development as part of a new nationwide Neighborhood Stabilization Program.

    States and local governments will acquire and redevelop foreclosed properties that might otherwise become sources of abandonment and blight within their communities, a HUD press release stated.

    The program also will increase affordable rental and homeownership opportunities for low to intermediate income households, according to Delaware State Housing Authority documents.

    The city of Dover, along with other municipalities, is working quickly to meet the Oct. 31 application deadline for the grant money.

    “This is unprecedented in terms of turnaround time,” said Dover Director of Planning and Inspections Ann Marie Townshend of the timeline.

    She said they knew the money would be coming, but weren’t sure until Oct. 14 what the rules for receiving the money would be.

    The one-time program can be looked at as supplemental to the Community Development Block Grant program, which the city has been administering for a long time. However, Townshend said with this new funding source, there’s a new set of rules to follow.

    The major difference is the Neighborhood Stabilization Program’s money has to be specifically used toward foreclosures, she said. Tracey Harvey, CDBG community development manager, said they normally work with a much wider range of activity such as rehabilitating houses, helping nonprofits with transitional housing or supporting community policing.

    The city will act as the facilitator and grant administrator for the money, but partners such as the Dover Housing Authority or Diamond State Community Land Trust will actually buy the properties and pull everything together, Townshend said.

    “We’re not going into the banking business,” she said.

    Townshend went to city council’s Parks, Recreation and Community Enhancement committee in order to get guidance at a special meeting before the finished application will be presented at the Oct. 27 council meeting.

    At the meeting, after much discussion, committee members decided to include areas three miles outside of Dover, at least initially, in the grant application. This is the same area that the Dover Housing Authority has jurisdiction over.

    Some committee members were concerned that land trust houses, which are part of the program, might have a stigma attached and decrease nearby house prices. With land trust houses, the land trust buys the property and sells the homes to income-qualified buyers while retaining ownership of the land.

    However, Councilman Eugene Ruane pointed out that foreclosed properties already decrease the value of communities.

    “This money is meant to change that,” he said.

    The city hopes to target areas in the city where clusters of foreclosures are happening. A listing given to committee members that looked at bank owned or auctioned houses showed four or more foreclosures in the downtown area, The Hamlet subdivision, subdivisions of Mayfair/Crossgates/Sherwood and in West Dover.

    Using similar listings and other criteria, the Delaware State Housing Authority will determine how the $19.6 million is spent within Delaware, based on the areas of greatest need, said Christina Hardin, chief of community relations.

    Dover city officials should know how much money they will receive by Dec. 1 and will actually get the money by March, at the earliest, Harvey said. Once received, the money must be specifically allocated in 18 months and spent within the next four years.