The ""Inland Empire Economic Recovery Corporation"":http://www.ieerc.org (IEERC), a California-based organization that helps stabilize real estate values in distressed neighborhoods and provides homeownership opportunities, recently announced it will receive a $1 million grant from ""HUD"":http://www.hud.gov.
[IMAGE]The non-profit will use the grant to purchase and rehabilitate foreclosed properties. IEERC recently made its first offer to purchase 34 foreclosed houses from ""Fannie Mae"":http://www.fanniemae.com. Restoration work on these homes could begin as early as next month.
Fannie Mae approved IEERC as a ""pool"" buyer, a designation usually reserved for groups purchasing homes in blocks of $50 million or more. The new relationship will allow IEERC to buy foreclosed homes in bulk from the GSE at discounted prices.
[COLUMN_BREAK]""Establishing a relationship with Fannie Mae was extremely important to our continued success,"" said Robert Hooker, executive director of IEERC. ""We will be able to purchase and rehabilitate more homes with the funding we have and provide more job opportunities to local residents.""
Last year IEERC purchased and restored 38 Inland homes in the cities of San Bernardino, Ontario, Rancho Cucamonga, Upland, Rialto, Hesperia, Victorville, Highland, Adelanto, and Yucaipa. The organization aims to acquire and complete rehab work on 125 houses by the end of the year.
""Grants and other funding will be critical to helping IEERC reach its 2011 goal,"" Hooker said.
IEERC partners include the County of San Bernardino, San Bernardino Associated Governments, Clark-LT, GBI Contractors, ABREI & Southern Cal Construction, and SAS Company.
""With the help of numerous partners, IEERC is making an impact on the region's foreclosure crisis one house at a time,"" Hooker said. ""In just two years we have bought, fixed, and sold dozens of distressed properties, and our success is opening new doors and attracting new capital sources.""
IEERC is a public-private partnership dedicated to preventing the spread of blight in neighborhoods experiencing high levels of foreclosures. The organization's mission it to purchase, restore, and resell foreclosed homes.