Rebuilding homes and hope

The nation's top housing official saw Friday how federal funds are working to put Minnesotans back to work and back into foreclosed homes in Minneapolis.

More than $17 million is putting hard hats and backhoes to work purchasing and refurbishing local sites -- but getting funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is still a process, and the rest of the money will trickle in to state and city hands as soon as this fall.

HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan touted the benefits of the stimulus bill at a north Minneapolis news conference after he toured a foreclosed home and a recently refurbished neighborhood with Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak and U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn. The area is one of the hardest-hit in the state by the foreclosure crisis.

The first 75 percent of the federal stimulus money was doled out within eight days of passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The other 25 percent will be given to applicants through competition, according to the HUD website. So while some projects are in the works, future funding is key in the city's attempts to turn foreclosed houses into owner-occupied homes.

The secretary's first stop was a home on Lyndale Avenue N. What could be a charming two-level house from the outside has broken windows and exposed wires and pipes within: This building is foreclosed. But through the First Look program, Minneapolis used state and local funding to buy the house for $28,000 before it went on the market, and the city hopes to use stimulus money to fix it up and resell it to a low-income family.

The second stop was in a redeveloped neighborhood on James Street N., an area City Council Member Don Samuels said used to be "ground-zero for drug dealing."

Now, dozens of children were playing in Cottage Park, surrounded by streets with new speed bumps and homes with government-funded improvements. Seven-year-old Onea Miller took a break from playing to meet the tourists in suit-coats. She thanked them for making her neighborhood better and said she loved the playground. The renovations on this street were not part of the stimulus bill, but from Bush administration funding. Rybak and Donovan said the neighborhood is an example of government money put to good use.

The last stop was a construction zone at the Cedar High apartment complex, complete with a view of a construction worker tearing up land with a backhoe. The news conference was part of a symbolic groundbreaking celebrating the energy-efficient improvements and jobs the $3.3 million of stimulus money are bringing to the Cedar and public housing complexes.

"I believe Minneapolis is a model for communities across the country," Donovan said.

Donovan said stimulus money is more accessible to cities than previous funding that was routed through the state or other agencies.

"Minneapolis can apply directly for that funding instead of having to go through a different level of government," Donovan said. "We think we found a way to get that money out, not only faster, but more effectively."

But big checks still take time, said Cherie Shoquist, Minneapolis foreclosure project coordinator, which is why programs such as First Look are integral to making changes happen before federal funding.

"All of this is a six- to nine-month time line, which is fast for HUD," she said. "Everything is expedited, but the funds aren't out yet because of the bureaucracy."

Minneapolis is applying for $38 million in stimulus funds for its Neighborhood Stabilization Program to add to the $14 million it received during the Bush administration.

Alex Ebert • 612-673-4264