The Town of North Hempstead received $740,000 from the Nassau County Community Development Block Grant program at its last 2018 Town Board meeting, which officials said will be used to address abandoned and vacant homes.
A spokeswoman for the town said the funds would go toward buying and redeveloping homes to be sold to first-time homebuyers, aiding lower income homeowners with home repairs, and boosting storefronts in New Cassel.
The Nassau County Community Block Grant program’s money is funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
This funding aims to provide “decent housing, suitable living environments and expanded economic opportunities … principally for low-and-moderate-income persons,” according to Nassau County.
Carole Trottere, a town spokeswoman, previously said that the town estimates the number of zombie homes as “somewhere in the 30s.”
In August, the town hired PROCHAMPS to head the town’s one-year Housing Quality Improvement Program to assemble a list of abandoned properties and create a plan to address them for $72,050.
