RIVERSIDE - More than $48 million in federal funds has been used in Riverside County to buy and repair 154 foreclosed homes and help 33 low- income home buyers make down payments, it was announced today.

In September 2008, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development allocated $48.56 million to the Riverside County -- it has the second-highest foreclosure rate in the state -- under the Neighborhood Stabilization Program approved by Congress and signed into law by then-President George W. Bush.

The county's Economic Development Agency was designated as the overseer of the funds, which were to be doled out for projects that reduced blight and to buoy the county's ailing housing market. EDA Director Rob Field told the board today that all of the money has been obligated within the time frame mandated by federal officials.

The county's allotment was one of the largest in the nation, just behind Chicago's. But Field said the funding did little to reduce the effects of the foreclosure wave. "It's working to a minor degree, but when you're facing 40,000 foreclosures in the county, there's only so much you can do," he said. "It's Advertisement

[ Chatton and Associates ] better than nothing."

Supervisor Bob Buster said he wouldn't give the program "a passing grade."

Supervisor John Tavaglione disagreed.

"You've taken a lot of dilapidated, deteriorating homes that were bringing down neighborhoods and turned them around, getting them sold to first- time (home) buyers," the supervisor said.

The federal funds have been distributed to nonprofit agencies and local government redevelopment agencies to buy foreclosed and abandoned homes, according to EDA documents. A dozen properties were bought to be converted to rental housing, officials said.

Residents whose incomes do not exceed 120 percent of the county's median income -- $79,000 for a family of four -- are eligible for down payment help or loans through county-approved lenders.

Around 30 communities, including Banning, Desert Hot Springs, La Quinta, Norco and San Jacinto, have been targeted for revitalization assistance.

"The Neighborhood Stabilization Program has provided a mechanism for the county to address its foreclosure problems and remove some houses from the market for the purpose of rehabilitating and reselling them to put Riverside County families into homes," EDA spokesman Tom Freeman said.

The foreclosure rate in the Inland Empire ranks among the five highest in the nation.