Blight Prevention Program

About the Program

Category: Community and Economic Development (Best in Category)

Year: 2009

The Blight Prevention Program of Collier County focuses on establishing working relationships with financial institutions in the mortgage industry. The program is the genesis of the foreclosure crisis today. Because conventional Code Enforcement measures do not necessarily achieve immediate results, the program, through its relationships, between county and financial institutions, generates quicker than normal abatement of violations. The program is simplistic in nature that creates common ground between county and the private sector by establishing mutually beneficial goals for all concerned parties and bypasses enforcement procedures. The Blight Prevention Program maintains a foreclosure resource directory in print media form and a mirror of those resources on a dedicated website. The directory makes available numerous preventative strategies that address the needs of families at risk of losing their homes. This might include a tax-foreclosure prevention program to help elderly homeowners, a substantial homeownership education program prior to home purchase, hotline numbers, current trends, articles, legal advice, government program, and the most recent legislation to attack predatory lending. Since its inception, the Blight Prevention Program is now involved in Community Task Force Teams, Neighborhood Stabilization Program, businesses, and the area Chamber of Commerce to target troubled businesses.