ROCKFORD — The City of Rockford was recently awarded $125,000 from the Illinois Housing Development Authority from the Abandoned Residential Property Municipal Relief Program.

The money will be used to demolish abandoned residential properties within the city. The funding for the program is derived solely from foreclosure filing fees paid by lending institutions and collected by the county clerk in which the foreclosure is filed. 

The goal of the program is to help eliminate vacant and blighted houses in Illinois and turn the properties into green space.

The grant will pay for approximately 13 of the 80 homes the city plans to demolish in 2018. R.