APTS TO RENT: $2B
TARP SURPLUS MAY GO TO STOP BUILDING FORECLOSURES

First it was the banks and automakers that got a helping hand from Uncle Sam — and soon some New York City apartment complexes could get one, too.

A bill winding its way through Congress proposes to prop up deteriorating apartment complexes by injecting $2 billion from the Troubled Asset Relief Program into an effort to stabilize multifamily properties in default or foreclosure.

The bill, which is called the TARP for Main Street Act and was sponsored by House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-Brooklyn and Manhattan), would use TARP funds that have been returned by banks and plow it into programs that, according to the bill, would create “sustainable financing” for the complexes as well as provide funding for property rehabilitation.