Town of Islip Awarded $339K Grant to Combat Zombie Home Epidemic

The Town of Islip has been awarded a $339,100 grant from the Office of the New York State Attorney General to address the decaying and abandoned foreclosure properties known as “zombie homes.”

The Attorney General believes these zombie homes have become a statewide problem. There were 2,084 zombie homes in Suffolk County and 1,960 in Nassau County in 2014, according to a 2014 Newsday study.

The study also found that “zombie homes” have cost Long Island at least $295 million in depreciated home values, while Long Island municipalities spent at least $3.2 million to clean, maintain and board up these properties in 2013.

Funding for the statewide initiative is drawn from the $3.2 billion settlement agreement with Morgan Stanley that Schneiderman, as co-chair of the federal-state working group on residential-mortgage-based securities, negotiated in February, according to the AG. The settlement generated $550 million in cash and consumer relief for New Yorkers.

The money will be used to address housing vacancy and increasing municipalities’ capacity for housing code enforcement, for tracking and monitoring vacant properties, and for legal enforcement capacity to ensure banks and mortgage companies comply with local and state law.

The Local Initiatives Support Corporation, a national community development intermediary that specializes in affordable housing, economic development, and community revitalization, is overseeing the initiative; selected the grantees; and will be providing technical assistance to the funded municipalities as they implement their plans.

“We are serious about improving every aspect of our neighborhoods, and in many places that begins with addressing these derelict and hazardous properties that have been plaguing our community," Town of Islip Supervisor Angie Carpenter said. “Houses like these aren’t just an eyesore that bring down the property values of responsible homeowners and neighborhoods, but are also health hazards. We are going to continue to work vigorously to eliminate this threat to the welfare of our town.”