Lowell Deeds

A substantial amount of stimulus money from the Federal government has been and will be distributed as “Neighborhood Stabilization Program” grants. In the first round of distributions last fall, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts received $43 million and the cities of Boston ($4.2 mil), Brockton ($2.2 mil), Springfield ($2.6 mil) and Worcester ($2.4 mil) all received grants. While Lowell didn’t get anything the first time, the city stands a good chance to receive future funds. The purpose of these grants is to assist cities in getting foreclosed properties back in operation so they will not remain abandoned and serve as anchors that drag down the value of the surrounding neighborhood. The primary approach is to assist non-profits in purchasing already foreclosed multifamily homes and then renting the apartments to families who might otherwise be left homeless. I’ve heard some statistics that say it costs $40,000 per year to care for a homeless family while subsidized rent for an apartment might be only $14,000, so this program makes a lot of economic sense from that perspective.