Part of $9.4 million of grant money will be going to Prince William county to repair foreclosed homes, according to InsideNova.com

Efforts to improve abandoned, foreclosed and blighted properties will help increase property values of all surrounding homes.

"Thanks to a recently awarded $1.5 million state grant, a local consortium of non-profit organizations will better be able to fight the foreclosure crisis that hit Prince William County last year.

The grant, which is part of a $9.4 million pot of money, will assist Manassas-based Catholics for Housing Inc. purchase, rehab and sell foreclosed properties in Dale City, Manassas and along the U.S. 1 corridor in Woodbridge and Dumfries.

Catholics for Housing is part of a larger group that includes Securing Emergency Resources through Volunteer Service, Fuller Center for Housing, Project Mend-a-House and the Dale City Volunteer Fire Department.

Catholics for Housing executive director Karen DeVito said her group has received approximately 40 applications for these properties. There are income requirements and potential owners must be able to secure a first mortgage.

Homes will be sold at the purchase price plus the cost of rehabilitation, said DeVito. The $1.5 million should be enough to buy six to eight homes and needs to be spent by September 2010, said DeVito.

A total of 85 foreclosed homes in 24 neighborhoods statewide will be upgraded and resold with the funds, which are from the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, a national initiative through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development."

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