Congress Approves $250,000 Grant to Help Motor City Blight Busters Rebuild Northwest Detroit Neighborhoods.

Business Editors

DETROIT--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 30, 2000

U.S. Representative Joe Knollenberg (R-MI) announced today that Congress passed legislation that includes a $250,000 Economic Development Initiative (EDI) grant to help rebuild neighborhoods in Northwest Detroit.

The grant, which was included in the Fiscal Year 2001 Appropriations Bill for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, was awarded to the Motor City Blight Busters to establish a revolving loan fund for new construction, acquisition, and rehabilitation of distressed homes.

"This grant will have a tremendous impact on the neighborhoods of Northwest Detroit," said John George, President of Motor City Blight Busters (MCBB). "Thanks to Congressman Knollenberg and our corporate partners like Fannie Mae, we will be able to stabilize and revitalize more neighborhoods than ever before."

"Motor City Blight Busters has already done so much for their community," said Rep. Knollenberg. "They have proved themselves. Now this EDI grant will give them the tools they need to leverage their accomplishments to date and do even more in the future."

"This significant grant will make a real difference in peoples lives," said David Dworkin, director of Fannie Mae's Michigan Partnership Office. "Thanks to Congressman Knollenberg, dozens of families will be able to live in new or newly rebuilt homes, and hundreds of others will have homeowners for neighbors, rather than crack houses and eyesores," Dworkin said.

The grant was announced at the Motor City Resource Center at 17405 Lahser Road in Detroit exactly one-year following Knollenberg's 1999 tour of Detroit's Northwest neighborhoods on Angel's Night, when he patrolled with George and Dworkin.

That evening led to discussions that resulted in the EDI grant request and Knollenberg's yearlong effort to get it in the FY 2001 Appropriations for HUD, VA and Independent Agencies. Because the grant is to be set up as an internal revolving loan fund, the money can be continually reused to rehabilitate and build more homes. Each time a home is sold, some of the proceeds replenish the fund.

"This is a great example of a public and private partnership," said Knollenberg.

Motor City Blight Busters was founded in 1988 with the mission and goal to stabilize and revitalize Detroit's long forgotten neighborhoods.

Fannie Mae, the nation's largest source of home mortgage funds, has committed to invest $1 billion in Detroit neighborhoods over the next seven years. During it's first three years in Detroit, the company invested over $500 million, serving nearly 10,000 Detroit families through the HouseDetroit investment plan.

Fannie Mae is a New York Stock Exchange company and the largest non-bank financial services company in the world. It operates pursuant to a federal charter and is the nation's largest source of financing for home mortgages. Fannie Mae is working to shrink the nation's "homeownership gaps" through a $2 trillion "American Dream Commitment" to increase homeownership rates and serve 18 million targeted American families by the end of the decade. Since 1968, Fannie Mae has provided $2.9 trillion of mortgage financing for over 35 million families. More information about Fannie Mae can be found on the Internet at http://www.fanniemae.com.

Style Usage: Fannie Mae's Board of Directors has authorized the company to operate as "Fannie Mae," and the company's stock is now listed on the NYSE as "Fannie Mae." In order to facilitate clarity and avoid confusion, news organizations are asked to refer to the company exclusively as "Fannie Mae."