The Housing Partnership Network has been working closely with members, private financial partners, and national foundations to bolster local efforts to address the foreclosure and REO crisis confronting many communities across the country. “I am pleased to announce two major initiatives that will significantly increase our collective capacity to stabilize communities devastated by mortgage defaults and foreclosures,” said Network CEO Tom Bledsoe.

First, the Network has raised $1.5 million from Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Fannie Mae, Bank of America, and Merrill Lynch to provide peer-based technical and financial assistance to up to twenty organizations operating in 16 cities. The funds are being used to support local planning efforts by Network members in collaboration with their key public and private partners to develop scalable strategies to buy, rehabilitate and sell REO properties in targeted communities.

The pass through grants - most in the $50,000 range but a few at $100,000 when multiple members are involved - are being made by the Network with funds provided by the Wells Fargo Mortgage Foundation or directly by Citi Foundation through a program developed jointly with the Network specifically for its members. The recipients were selected based on their overlap with the banks’ community reinvestment target markets, the quality of their plans and their readiness to proceed. “Almost all of the initial funds have now been allocated,” Bledsoe noted, “but we are continuing to seek resources for REO business planning from financial institutions and foundations.” He encouraged interested members to contact either Mary Tingerthal or Matt Perrenod.

These philanthropic resources, including funds from Bank of America, Fannie Mae and Merrill Lynch, will also enable the Network to provide in-depth technical support to the local efforts of members, facilitate peer-to-peer exchange of the most effective tools and strategies that emerge from this process, and design financing products that can promote the acquisition, rehabilitation and sale of REO properties.

In the second major initiative, the Network – in partnership with NeighborWorks America, Enterprise Community Partners and LISC - has committed to move forward with an ambitious plan to form the National Community Stabilization Trust to help nonprofits buy and finance the acquisition of REO properties from national servicers and investors. Grants totaling $450,000 from the Ford and MacArthur foundations have funded the business planning, which has been nearly completed. The Network’s board approved participation in the Trust and voted to provide an initial investment of $100,000 in working capital to make it operational. NeighborWorks and Enterprise have taken similar steps and the LISC board is scheduled to act on their participation this week. As agent for the collaborative with NWA, Enterprise & LISC, the Network hired Craig Nickerson – formerly of Freddie Mac – to oversee the launch and start up of this new venture this fall.

“We would like to thank our financial and philanthropic partners for their generous support that will help position our members – individually and in collaboration through the Network – to play high-impact, leadership roles in addressing the REO crisis in their communities,” said Bledsoe. He added that “Mary Tingerthal, our President of Capital Market Companies, has done an outstanding job in shaping and guiding this initiative along with Matt Perrenod, our Chief Lending Officer.”

“Our strongest thanks and respect goes to our member nonprofits and their entrepreneurial leaders as well as to our colleagues in the national intermediaries with whom we are working so closely,” Bledsoe noted. “Their willingness to step up forcefully in their communities to take on this enormous challenge - and to collaborate with their peers - is making these innovative and high impact efforts possible.”