ARIZONA DAILY STAR: Weds., Jan. 14, 2009

Pima to buy up some foreclosed homes

By Erica Meltzer

Pima County will put $1.5 million in affordable-housing bond funds toward protecting neighborhoods hit hard by foreclosures and vacant homes. The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to apply the bond funds to the county's Foreclosure Prevention Program.

The bond funds will be used along with $3 million in federal funds to buy homes that have been abandoned or foreclosed in neighborhoods worst hit by foreclosures in Tucson and Pima County.

Pima County Affordable Housing Program Manager Betty Villegas said some of the details still need to be worked out, but the plan is for the county to buy homes that have been foreclosed on, fix them up if necessary and rent them out as affordable housing. Villegas estimated the bond funds would be enough to buy 12 or 13 homes.

FULL STORY: http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/byauthor/275847