Congressman Dennis Cardoza
18th Congressional District of California

WASHINGTON – Congressman Dennis Cardoza expressed his appreciation today for appropriations aimed at helping Merced County deal with foreclosed property through the Neighborhood Stabilization Program.

“This money is not nearly sufficient to address the foreclosure crisis throughout the Central Valley. However, this is a significant step forward and I was pleased to see Merced County at the top of the list after it was unfairly overlooked in federal allocations,” Cardoza said. “I will continue to do all I can to bring resources to the Central Valley to stabilize the housing problem.”

The congressman also said he would be providing any assistance necessary to those communities that received this funding as they implemented the grants.

Merced County received the highest direct allocation of funds of any jurisdiction in the state, with $2.1 million. The City of Merced received $1.4 million. Los Banos received $1.6 million.

The state also recognized a need for resources in Atwater, Dos Palos, Gustine and Livingston.

Earlier in the year, despite the City of Merced having the second highest foreclosure rate in the nation, the city was not allotted federal funds through a Community Development Block Grant program, nor was Merced County.

Congressman Cardoza criticized several fundamental flaws in the formula HUD used to allocate the funds. Among them: It was based on an unreliable vacancy rate and significantly under-calculated the unemployment rate for Merced. The allocation also ignored a crucial congressional instruction that the grant money be distributed to communities with the “greatest need.”