Montgomery County Gets Grants for Foreclosed Home Program
A series of federal stimulus funds are being provided to Montgomery County to finance its poverty, unemployment and foreclosed home programs.
The two biggest grants received by the county recently were the Recovery Zone Facility Bonds which amounted to $35.5 million and the economic development funds which amounted to $23.7 million.
The Recovery bonds would aid business enterprises in distressed areas of the county while the development bonds would finance projects to create jobs, prevent foreclosures, manage foreclosed properties, reduce the poverty rate and assist poor families.
All in all, Montgomery County will receive $37 million in federal formula grants and is applying for another $85 million in federal competitive grants.
The county’s independent agencies, like the Housing Opportunities Commission, the Montgomery College and the Montgomery County Public Schools, will get a total of $106 million in federal formula grants and are applying for more than $86 million in federal competitive grants.
On July 30, County Executive Isiah Leggett talked with Vice President Joe Biden about the use of the money already received by the county. Leggett told Biden that the federal stimulus funds have saved and created jobs and have helped solve state budget deficit problems.
Based on county records, among the departments that received the biggest allocations were the Transportation Department, which received $6.9 million to finance two contracts for highway construction and repair work; the Department of Housing and Community Affairs, which received $2 million to finance two contracts for weatherization projects; and the Department of Economic Development, which received $1.2 million to finance summer employment and job training programs.
The other agencies funded were the Housing Opportunities Commission, which received $436,000 to pay three contracts for public housing rehabilitation and renovation; and the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission, which received $300,000 to pay a contract for the design and planning of a sewer line system.
In June this year, Montgomery County’s unemployment climbed up to 5.7 percent, an increase of 2.3 percent from the 3.4 percent jobless rate in June last year.
Across the state, the unemployment rate soared to 9.7 percent in June, an increase of 4 percent from the 5.7 percent jobless rate in June last year.
Meanwhile, the total of foreclosure filings in the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria metro area which covers Montgomery County reached nearly 30,000 filings in the first 6 months of 2009, representing 1.37 percent of all housing units in the area.
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