Attorney General Peter Kilmartin stands in front of a abandoned property in Central Falls. Photo by Kim Kalunian WPRO News
Reporting by Kim Kalunina and the Associated Press
Rhode Island’s attorney general has announced a $250,000 grant to help Central Falls address the blight of abandoned properties and prevent foreclosures.
Attorney General Peter Kilmartin and Mayor James Diossa announced the grant to the city’s Nuisance Task Force on Tuesday.
“Behind me you see a property that is boarded up, this program and the Nuisance Task Force in Central Falls will help not only make these properties safe, but get them back onto the taxpayer rolls,” said Kilmartin, “It’s an important program that the city put together and I commend the Mayor and his team for putting it together.”
Central Falls has one of the highest mortgage foreclosure rates in the state.
The funds are through the national mortgage settlement. They’ll help the city identify and remediate vacant and abandoned properties, launch a foreclosure education program and devise strategies to prevent foreclosure.
Diossa created the task force last year. So far, it is monitoring more than 90 properties, including some at risk of foreclosure, some that have been foreclosed on and some that are vacant and abandoned.
Diossa says the funds will help the city do more to address the effects of the foreclosure crisis.
