By Charlene Cutting, AACPM and Jack Lemons,
Consortium Co-Chairs, 2009 Management Practices Committee

The Management Practices Committee is pleased to announce an additional project has been chosen for Askew recognition. This brings the total 2009 projects to twenty-one. The project, entitled “Addressing the Foreclosure Crisis in the City of Hazel Park,” was submitted by Edward Klobucher and Sharon Pinch of Michigan and had as its goal the development of a comprehensive plan to address housing foreclosure in Hazel Park, Michigan. The project summary is as follows: 

Hazel Park, like so many other communities across the United States, has been ravaged by the current housing foreclosure crisis. The associated reduction of property values generated less revenue for Hazel Park’s already financially strapped treasury. Foreclosures have also created a severe blight problem. As a result of the capstone project, a multi-pronged approach called the Neighborhood Improvement Action Plan (NIAP) was developed to address the foreclosure problem. The NIAP consists of four components including 1) utilization of funds from the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Neighborhood Stabilization Program, 2) development of a partnership, “Oak Street,” with the Oakland County Community Development Department to assist current homeowners with keeping and improving their properties, 3) utilization of the HUD Dollar Home Program to acquire foreclosed homes and provide low-cost housing to persons willing to invest sweat equity in repairs, and 4) operations improvement of the City of Hazel Park’s Code Enforcement Department through increased ticketing of violators, as well as inventorying and tagging vacant structures for database accuracy and progress measurement. The strategy outlined in the capstone project is currently being utilized by the City of Hazel Park and has resulted in the demolition or renovation of numerous blighted homes. The City has contracted for the construction of several new homes with funds from the federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program.

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