Indiana awarded $3M in additional Hardest Hit funding

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Indiana is receiving more federal funding to help homeowners struggling with mortgage payments.

The Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority said Wednesday that the U.S. Department of the Treasury has awarded an additional $33.4 million for Indiana's Hardest Hit Fund. It says Indiana has until the end of 2020 to use the funds.

The federal Hardest Hit Fund was created in 2010 to provide $7.6 billion in targeted aid to 18 states and the District of Columbia deemed hardest hit by the economic and housing market downturn.

So far, Indiana's Hardest Hit Fund has provided more than $100 million to more than 7,000 Hoosier homeowners facing foreclosure. Funds also have been used to demolish more than 900 vacant and blighted properties through the state's Blight Elimination Program.