Feds giving $5M to fix up vacant Long Island foreclosures

Long Island will get at least $5 million to buy and rehab vacant foreclosures in the latest round of federal funding for neighborhoods slammed by the real estate crisis.

The announcement is expected to be made 2 p.m. Wednesday by Adolfo Carrión, the regional administrator for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and several local officials. They will gather in Hempstead Village, where some vacant homes and boarded-up properties have been used as construction and household trash dumping grounds.

Nassau County will get $2.1 million, Suffolk $1.5 million and Islip Town $1.4 million, HUD said. It’s part of $19.8 million that will be distributed across New York state under the new round of funding and $1 billion to be spread around the nation.

This third round of funding is on top of the $19 million that Long Island has gotten from HUD’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program since it was launched two years ago. The program gives dollars to municipalities and nonprofits to buy foreclosures at discounted rates from lenders; in many cases, they get the “first look” on properties before they’re publicly listed.