The Department of Business and Industry’s Nevada Housing Division will submit an application to avail of about $810,000 federal funds that will be used to buy 12 repo home in Pharump, renovate and sell them. Under the program, a federal funding of $1.2 million will also be made available as down payment assistance to low income and middle income families who want to buy 30 properties.

The federal fund application under the Neighborhood Stabilization Program 2 will target counties of Douglas, Lyon and Nye and Carson City. The federal program, made possible by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, is designed to provide assistance to local governments that want to buy and redevelop repo home.

The housing division is going to apply for about $20.2 million to be used to acquire, rehabilitate and sell or rent foreclosed properties, as well as deposit assistance for home purchasing.

Meanwhile, under the first version of the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, Nye County has already received $1.3 million out of the total $24.3 million earmarked for Clark, Douglas, Lyon, Nye and Washoe counties. However, the federal government has not yet issued a notice to proceed under the second version of the program.

According to the report submitted by the housing division for the purpose of its grant application, the targeted communities are described as areas that supply work force for Reno or Las Vegas. According to the agency, the growth in these areas has driven demand for single-family houses among first-time homebuyers who used low down payments and adjustable rate mortgages to purchase their homes.

The report noted that when the economic collapse, housing costs and interest rates rose to unsustainable levels, making it difficult for homeowners to make mortgage payments.

The total number of pre-foreclosures in Nye County reached 357, in addition to 523 repo home and 232 trustee home sales. The total number of high-cost loans by Nye property owners were reported to be around 1,261. This earned the county a foreclosure risk score of seven, which is higher than Douglas County and Lyon County.

The housing division expects to spend as much as $40,000 to renovate each repo home.