Foreclosed Homes Reopen In East Palo Alto

EAST PALO ALTO (CBS SF) ---- Several East Palo Alto families received keys to their new homes Tuesday, thanks to a local nonprofit.

Three local women -- a teaching assistant, a deli manager, and a nonprofit worker -- will be the owners of newly-renovated homes in East Palo Alto, one of the places hardest hit in the Bay Area by the foreclosure crisis, organizers said.

Habitat for Humanity Greater San Francisco started the Neighborhood Revitalization Program in 2009 in response to the foreclosure crisis.

KCBS' Matt Bigler Reports:

Through NRP, the organization acquires bank-owned homes and rehabilitates them. Local working families then buy the homes with no down payment and zero-interest mortgages after completing homeownership training and 500 hours of sweat equity, working on the homes alongside hundreds of volunteers.

The NRP has completed, renovated, or planned 18 homes to date, organizers said.

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