A Silver Lining To The Foreclosure Crisis: More Affordable Housing

"Federal Reserve Board Governor Randall Kroszner said on Wednesday that the Fed would work with a national affordable housing group to help stabilize neighborhoods with high foreclosure rates.

Kroszner, in remarks to a training conference sponsored by NeighborWorks America in Cincinnati, did not address Fed monetary policy or the Fed's broader outlook for the U.S. economy.

Kroszner announced a partnership with NeighborWorks America to help teach the affordable housing umbrella group's local affiliates and other nonprofit community organizations how to acquire, rehabilitate and manage foreclosed homes, known as "real estate owned," or REO, on bank balance sheets.

"The ultimate goal is to return REO to productive use, for example, to provide affordable rental housing or to supply new, sustainable homeownership opportunities in low-and moderate-income communities," Kroszner said.

Kroszner said Federal Reserve banks would help develop training resources, best practices and strategies for the sale and effective use of foreclosed properties in individual markets."