Congresswoman Kelly Announces $100 Million in Housing Funds for Struggling Illinois Families

Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds will help stabilizing housing market in hardest hit communities

Washington, D.C. – (RealEstateRama) — Congresswoman Robin Kelly (D-IL) announced today more than $100 million in additional Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funding for Illinois through the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

The funding will support the Treasury Department’s Hardest Hit Fund program, which allows participating state Housing Finance Agencies to continue assisting struggling homeowners and stabilizing neighborhoods in Illinois’ hardest hit communities. Illinois’ HHF program will receive $118,174,500 in additional funding.

“A stable housing market is the foundation of stable communities. Yet far too many Illinois families continue to suffer the lingering effects of a financial crisis that threatens the roof over their heads. This is especially true in the Second District, which continues to wrestle with the highest foreclosure rate in the state,” Kelly said. “The additional funding for the Hardest Hit Fund will help get these families on firmer financial footing by helping them avoid foreclosure, which in turn helps to stabilize the broader housing market and strengthen the housing recovery in the Second District and throughout Illinois.”

Kelly worked with a bipartisan group of Members of Congress and local officials in securing the funding, including Cook County Commissioner Bridget Gainer, (D-Chicago).

“As Chairman of the Cook County Land Bank and someone who has been working to drive investment to Chicago’s hardest hit communities for the past five years I know how critical these funds will be to building up and empowering our local communities and community members. These funds will allow us to focus not just on the homes but on the people who make Chicago, Cook County and Illinois great,” Gainer said.

The Hardest Hit Fund was created in 2010 to provide $7.6 billion in targeted aid to 18 states and the District of Columbia deemed hardest hit by the economic and housing market downturn. The program was designed to leverage the expertise of state and local partners by funding locally-tailored foreclosure prevention and neighborhood stabilization solutions. As of the end of the third quarter of 2015, HHF has disbursed approximately $4.5 billion of the $7.6 billion obligated to the program, on behalf of homeowners and stabilization efforts, and assisted nearly a quarter of a million homeowners