WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) today announced more than $8 million in federal funding for foreclosure prevention and blight removal in Clark and Montgomery Counties through the Hardest Hit Fund Program, a portion of $191 million awarded to the Ohio Housing Finance Agency (OHFA). The funding is part of a $2 billion investment that Brown secured in December to bolster the Hardest Hit Fund as part of the year-end government funding bill. The below organizations received the following amounts:

  • Clark County Land Reutilization Corporation - $634,785.50
  • Montgomery County Land Reutilization Corporation - $8,182,015.55

“Ohio communities and homeowners are still recovering from the foreclosure crisis that devastated our country,” said Brown, ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. “Foreclosed or abandoned homes can hurt home values in our neighborhoods and contribute to crime. This funding will allow Ohio communities to prevent foreclosure and get rid of blighted properties in our state.”

Brown has worked to strengthen the Hardest Hit Fund so Ohio can continue to benefit from the program. In July 2015, Brown helped strike a provision from a version of a transportation bill offered by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) that would have rescinded millions in funds from the Hardest Hit Fund.

The Hardest Hit Fund was established in 2010 under the Recovery Act, using a one-time infusion of funds remaining in the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) passed in 2008. Ohio was not initially included in the program, but Brown made direct appeals to President Obama and then-Treasury Secretary Geithner to dedicate additional funds for this program. At the behest of Brown, the program, then called Hardest-Hit Housing Markets (4HM) program, was expanded in March 2010 to cover Ohio.

The Hardest Hit Fund has provided OHFA with more than $762.3 million in funds that can be used in a flexible manner to address Ohio’s local housing issues. As of June 30, 2015, more than $540 million has been spent on a variety of programs that help Ohioans stay in their homes, including direct assistance to borrowers and help for local housing counselors to assist homeowners. Of the more than 24,500 Ohioans who have received assistance to date, the overwhelming majority have been able to remain in their homes. Less than one-half of one percent of participants have lost their homes through a sheriff’s sale.

In 2013, Brown fought to ensure that Ohio communities could also use the Hardest Hit Fund to demolish vacant and abandoned properties. In March of that year, after urging from Brown, the Department of the Treasury approved OHFA’s proposal to use a portion of the state’s nearly $375 million remaining Hardest Hit Fund to demolish vacant and abandoned properties. This resulted in nearly $80 million in awards to Ohio land banks.

 

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