HUD Grants $2Bil to Repair Nabes and Knock Down Homes

What's a city supposed to do when foreclosures tally into the thousands and streets are glutted with far more empty, falling-apart houses than people willing to live in them?

For a growing number of cities, a big part of the answer is: knock 'em down.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has awarded $2 billion in grants in the second phase of its Neighborhood Stabilization Program, in which local governments and nonprofits had to compete to prove they had the worthiest plans for foreclosure recovery. But stabilization can take many forms, as the plans make clear.