FHA rehab program is reinstated

Signaling the return of a nationwide program to sell rehabilitated homes to low-income buyers, the Federal Housing Administration said Monday that it had signed a contract with Enterprise Home Ownership Partners Inc. for the California nonprofit to buy and rehabilitate up to 600 single-family properties in the Los Angeles area.

The pilot program, which was suspended last year, allows nonprofit organizations and local governments to buy foreclosed properties owned by the Department of Housing and Urban Development at a discount and then sell them to low-income buyers at affordable prices. Nearly 750 homes have been bought, fixed and sold by program participants.

In April 2002, HUD suspended the 2-year-old trial program after the agency’s inspector general found violations of guidelines in several of the program’s 16 participating cities, including San Bernardino.