RIALTO - City officials are confident an injection of federal money will go a long way to curing the problem of eyesore properties. At the same time, they are touting two programs of their own to wipe blight from the landscape.

The city will receive about $5.5 million in grant money from Housing and Urban Development's $3.92 billion Neighborhood Stabilization Program designed to help local governments buy, fix and sell properties abandoned to foreclosure.

"We could intervene in the marketplace for a portfolio of single-family units," said Robb Steel, economic development director. "It could possibly be a financing mechanism for soft-second (mortgages) for buyers."

City leaders can also use the grant to demolish abandoned properties and offer down payment and closing-cost assistance to home buyers whose household incomes do not exceed 120 percent of area median income.

They can also create land banks to assemble, temporarily manage and dispose of vacant land for the purpose of stabilizing neighborhoods and encouraging reuse or redevelopment of urban property.

The city may also revitalize some of its troubled multifamily projects, Steel said.

He said officials are looking forward to two workshops where they will further explore their options.

At the same time, they are reminding residents of two programs they hope will curb blight and encourage more buyers to fill abandoned houses.

"Some of the properties out there are in pretty bad shape," said John Dutrey, housing program manager.

The Minor Rehabilitation Home Repair program will assist homeowners and first-time home buyers with repairs to their homes.

A homeowner with a fixed-rate mortgage on the house in which he lives may borrow up to $10,000 at a zero percent interest rate, to do repairs. There are no equity requirements, Dutrey said.

Qualified home buyers who purchase vacant, foreclosed homes will also be eligible.

Dutrey said some of the vacant houses need up to $20,000 in work.

The Emergency Mobile Home Repair program is a grant for owner-occupied mobile homes.

Mobile-home owners who need emergency repairs may apply for up to $7,000 to correct code violations, safety and hazardous conditions.

Applicants must have resided in the mobile home for at least one year.

Both programs require prospective applicants to meet low- to moderate-income guidelines, and the properties must be located within the city.

"We're looking to do two things with these houses," Dutrey said. "Get a family in, and get the property looking better in town."

Steel said the HUD grant may not necessarily go to the two programs, but that the projects it funds would not supplant them either.

For information on the city's home repair programs, call (909) 879-1140.