SEMINOLE HEIGHTS –

An abandoned house across the street from a newly rehabilitated bungalow has a “No Trespassing” sign posted on the door. Next door to the bungalow is a boarded-up yellow house with trash strewn in the backyard and weeds growing freely.

The yellow house, says neighbor Ricc Rollins, looks cleaner than it once did.

But it is the rehabilitated house, with a new coat of brown outside and pale walls inside, that Rollins says could be a new beginning in the 1400 block of East Frierson Avenue.

A public-private partnership pulling together local and federal dollars is responsible for the house’s makeover, after its owners lost their home to foreclosure. The partnership hopes to complete about 150 similar makeovers in the next year, beginning with five houses in the East Tampa area.

“We’re grateful because this gives us all hope,” said Rollins, who has lived on Frierson in southeast Seminole Heights for about four years. “It took on a new life. It’s brighter. It’s cleaner. It’s actually a home.”

Last week, Rollins was among about 30 people who attended a press conference to announce the Tampa kick-off for Get Home NOW! Among those attending were Mayor Bob Buckhorn; U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Tampa; interim executive director Ernest Coney Jr. of the Corporation to Develop Communities of Tampa; officials from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; and representatives of Atlanta-based APD Solutions.

Pointing toward the yellow house, Buckhorn said, “That right there is a cancer in a neighborhood. If you don’t deal with that situation right there, what happens is, it spreads from house to house, block to block.”

APD Solutions will administer about $15 million to aid in the purchase, rehabilitation and sale of the foreclosed properties as part of the federally funded Neighborhood Stabilization Program of Tampa, said chief executive officer Vaughn Irons. Five homes, including the Frierson house and others on Emma, Taliaferro and Louisiana streets, have been acquired so far, he said.

APD oversees 11 similar neighborhood redevelopment programs nationally.

About $40,000 was advanced for the rehabilitation of the Frierson house, which Irons estimates could sell for about $50,000.

The program targets working families and individuals, but there are no income limits. APD works in partnership with the city’s housing department, First Guaranty Mortgage Corporation, Ginger Mae Financial Services and Home Depot.

In addition, the CDC of Tampa will provide counseling before and after the home purchase and, if necessary, can aid buyers in repairing low credit scores.

Between 2008 and 2010, there were about 775 foreclosures in the East Tampa area and fewer than 75 new homes built, said Coney.

“That’s an epidemic,” he said. “What this solution does is fix that.”

The program gives residents an opportunity for the “American dream,” said Buckhorn. “It is a win-win for everybody. We need to replicate this all over the city because we have thousands of (foreclosures).”

For information, call the Get Home NOW! Hotline at (877) 484-6669 or visit the website, www.HomeByRequest.com/gethomenow.