According to an article in the New York Times, Mayor Bloomberg and outgoing Housing and Urban Development Secretary Preston announced at a press conference held at City Hall on January 14th 2009, an initiative to save neighborhoods from the threat of urban blight from foreclosure.
New York City will buy 115 homes with a $24 million budget in neighborhoods hard hit with foreclosures in Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island and The Bronx. The funding is coming from a grant from the federal government as part of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008.
