Where stabilization dollars will be spent

The Chicago Neighborhood Stabilization Program will spend the $55 million in federal grant money they received to buy vacant, foreclosed homes in the neighborhoods most affected by the foreclosure crisis.

The city followed federal guidelines to find 25 communities that were eligible for funding based on factors such as how many bank-owned properties, known as REOs were in the area. 

First Deputy Commissioner Ellen Sahli of the Department of Community Development said the city will pick neighborhoods where the city and private business has investments that are threatened by the glut of REOs in the 25 areas of greatest needs. 

The Woodstock Institute, which does housing research, said that 6,000 Chicago properties fell back into the hands of banks in 2007. Add those to the 20,000 properties slapped with foreclosure filings in the city in 2008 and the a picture of neighborhoods on the edge of urban decay becomes clear. 

Sahli said the city must be strategic and visibly turn blocks around. On a block with 10 foreclosures, she said, the city needs to buy and deal with all of them. 

“If we just get one of the 10, there’s not going to be sufficient support so that the block knows we can do this.”

Watch Sahli explain the city's strategy above.