The program, benefiting low- to moderate-income residents, requires cities to allocate the aid within 18 months and finish programs within four years. Cities may have no trouble finding applicants eager for home-buying assistance or foreclosed properties to target.
Broward County had 47,387 homeowners in some stage of foreclosure last year, a 128 percent increase over 20,805 a year earlier, according to RealtyTrac Inc. of Irvine, Calif. Broward had the nation's sixth-highest annual foreclosure rate.
In Palm Beach County, 23,399 homeowners faced losing their properties to foreclosure last year, up 97 percent from 11,904 in 2007.
So far, residents have converged on the few cities that welcomed applications. Coral Springs, Miramar, Tamarac and Sunrise, drew hundreds of applicants earlier this year. They have cut off applications and won't accept any more.
Pembroke Pines and Boynton Beach are the latest two municipalities to start letting people apply.
Pembroke Pines' deadline to pick up applications is today, but Boynton Beach has set no deadline, officials said.
Boynton Beach has set aside about $400,000 of its $2.9 million share of aid to help first-time home buyers purchase 32 homes in Ocean Breeze, a planned development, said Mindy Wooster, RTG's marketing director. RTG Construction, which partnered with the city, is accepting applicants' calls, Wooster said.
"Out of 100 calls, you might get 10 people who are really qualified," Wooster said.
Using its share of $4.3 million in aid, Pembroke Pines will use forgivable loans, or grants, to help low- to moderate-income people buy and spruce up foreclosed homes selling for up to $250,000.
"We've gotten hundreds of applicants," said Shekeria Brown, who works for Community Redevelopment Associates of Florida, the firm Pembroke Pines hired to help oversee its program.
Under terms of the grants, buyers can earn no more than 120 percent of each county's median income. For a family of four, it would be $91,800 in Broward and $83,050 in Palm Beach County. Some properties will be reserved for families earning as little as $38,250 a year in Broward and $37,700 in Palm Beach County.
Nechmaly Tapia, 32, a single mother of two boys who lives in Tamarac, earns less than $32,000 a year as an auto sales representative, she said.
For her application, Tamarac officials required her to obtain a pre-qualification letter from a bank, showing her credit was good enough for a mortgage loan. She spent hours compiling paperwork with her tax return, Social Security and employment information.
She's waiting for the city to tell her whether she qualifies. "I'm really optimistic about it," she said.
The earliest cities to take applications are among 14 of the biggest cities in Broward and Palm Beach counties that were awarded grant money directly instead of through the counties. The other large cities — including Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, Pompano Beach, and West Palm Beach — aren't taking applications yet. They say they're still firming up their programs but making progress.
For example, Plantation is poised to buy, fix and sell about 10 houses after it hired a nonprofit group called Broward Alliance for Neighborhood Development to help manage the project.
Cecile Julmysse, 44, a Tamarac resident who missed the city's deadline to apply in February, said she'll be watching for neighboring cities' programs to kick off.
"All my life I've been renting," said Julmysse, a home-care specialist with five children. "Paying rent, I'm throwing my money away."
Jason Donn Real Estate Open Networkers
