East End municipalities will receive nearly $775,000 from New York State to address vacant properties and what are referred to as “zombie homes,” as a part of a $12.6 million package awarded to 76 towns, cities and villages across the state through the Zombie Remediation and Prevention Initiative, funded through the Office of the Attorney General's $3.2 billion settlement agreement with Morgan Stanley.
On the East End, those municipalities include the Town of Brookhaven, which will get $350,000; the Town of Riverhead, which has been awarded $100,000; the Town of Southampton, which will receive $175,000; and the Village of Mastic Beach, which will be given $149,628.
The money will address housing vacancy and blight by bolstering municipalities' capacity for housing code enforcement, for tracking and monitoring vacant properties, and for legal enforcement capacity to ensure banks and mortgage companies comply with local and state law, according to a release issued by New York State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele, Jr., this week. All the funded proposals include a prevention component, to connect at-risk homeowners to services so they can avoid foreclosure and stay in their homes.
Municipalities with populations of at least 5,000 residents and at least 100 vacant and abandoned properties were invited to apply for the funds through a competitive application process. In total, 108 municipalities were invited to apply for funding; 76 submitted proposals; and all were awarded grants.
gavinmenu on Oct 19, 2016