Waters secures $32.8 million to stablize L.A. neighborhoods
Areas hit by housing foreclosures targeted
Waters secures $32.8 million to stablize L.A. neighborhoods
Areas hit by housing foreclosures targeted
Washington, DC - Congresswoman Maxine Waters (CA-35) announced Monday that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has approved a plan from the City of Los Angeles to help homeowners and stabilize neighborhoods suffering from the effects of high foreclosure rates and declining home values. Los Angeles will receive $32.8 million in funds from the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) to help acquire and redevelop foreclosed properties in targeted neighborhoods.
“As Congress developed our response to the subprime mortgage crisis and took steps to strengthen the housing market, I emphasized the importance of neighborhood stabilization. I have seen the consequences of clusters of foreclosed properties driving down home values, increasing crime and adding to blight in affected neighborhoods, so I fought hard to make sure the legislation we passed included neighborhood stabilization funding. I have spoken with Mercedes Marquez, General Manager of the Los Angeles Housing Department, and I believe she has developed an excellent plan for utilizing NSP funds to help our communities,” said Congresswoman Waters, who chairs the Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity.
Congresswoman Waters worked with leaders in Congress to secure neighborhood stabilization funding for Los Angeles and other communities. She introduced the Neighborhood Stabilization Act (H.R. 5818) last year to authorize a federal grant and loan program to help cities, counties and states purchase, rehabilitate and resell or rent foreclosed homes and in turn create rental and ownership opportunities for low- and moderate-income families.
A bill that Congresswoman Maxine Waters proposed on June 20 called the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) Grants for Job Creation Act was not included in the Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development (THUD) transportation bill recently under consideration by the House Appropriations Committee.
TIGER would provide an emergency fund of one billion dollars over the next two years that would create jobs by funding investments in transportation infrastructure.
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—The California Community Foundation announced it has awarded more than $5.6 million in grants to 62 nonprofit organizations in the Los Angeles area.
According to the foundation, the bulk of the grants were given to aid programs focused on arts, education, healthcare, housing and neighborhoods and human development. Other grant funds will go toward civic-engagement projects, scholarships and supporting the foundation’s El Monte Community Building Initiative.
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—A coalition representing homeless veterans sued the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs today, alleging the federal agency failed to provide stable housing at its West Los Angeles facility for vets suffering from mental disorders.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California filed the proposed class-action lawsuit in U.S. District Court in downtown Los Angeles on behalf of four homeless veterans, the Vietnam Veterans of America and Carolina Winston Barrie, a descendant of one of the property’s original owners.
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—An Antelope Valley community group sued Lancaster and Palmdale officials today, alleging the cities engaged in practices meant to drive out Black and Latino residents.
The complaint was filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on behalf of the Community Action League, the California State Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and two unidentified residents who allegedly faced racial discrimination.
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors called for public health officials to speed up permit processing and weed out bad behavior by health inspectors before instituting fee hikes.
Department of Public Health Director Dr. Jonathan Fielding had sought the board's approval for a July 1 change in fees related to health code inspections for restaurants and the enforcement of other state and local regulations on food safety, housing, drinking water, water pollution, solid
waste and pest control.
