(Lawrenceville, Ga., Sept. 19, 2012) – Commissioners on Tuesday renewed a contract with three firms to carry out a grant-funded program aimed at stabilizing neighborhoods that have been hard hit by high rates of foreclosure. Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership, Gwinnett Window and Door and The Macallan Group will continue to purchase foreclosed homes, rehabilitate the properties and sell them to working families. The Lawrenceville Housing Corporation and View Point Health are nonprofit partners working with these firms.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) created the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) in 2008 to reverse the negative effects of foreclosures on communities. Gwinnett County first received NSP grants from HUD and the Georgia Department of Community Affairs in 2009 and again in 2011.

Gwinnett County is using the most recent grant award of $5.6 million to target designated neighborhoods in and around Lawrenceville with a goal of selling 40 homes to income eligible families. To date, the program has sold two of the 14 homes it has acquired and rehabilitated.

In addition, the County used $14.4 million it received in 2009 to acquire and rehabilitate 101 foreclosed single family homes and a foreclosed 92-unit townhome development. The program has sold 93 of these homes to low, moderate and middle income families.

In total, the program has invested in more than 30 individual Gwinnett County neighborhoods.

To learn more about the Neighborhood Stabilization program, visit www.nspgwinnett.com or call the local NSP office at (678) 518-6026.