Several North Texas cities and counties will soon go house hunting.

About $30.3 million from Congress' Housing and Economic Recovery Act will allow six North Texas cities along with Dallas and Tarrant counties to purchase and refurbish foreclosed homes. They will also be able to provide down payment assistance to qualified homebuyers who purchase foreclosed homes. It's an unprecedented emergency program designed to protect neighborhoods from declining home values.

"This money was designed to acquire, rehabilitate ... and make these houses homes again," said Brian Sullivan, a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development spokesman. "It's about making sure these homes don't become sources of blight in the community where the effect becomes almost viral."

It's not intended to bail out homeowners who are facing foreclosure, officials said.

"We're not seeking houses from people who are currently occupying them," Mesquite's housing manager Cliff Keheley said. "They should contact their lender. There are several programs out there that lenders are more aware of."

What this latest program does is put money in the hands of the governments to use in neighborhoods at risk. Cities and counties will establish programs that suit their respective areas. They must submit a version of the plan to HUD for approval by early December. If the plans are approved, the cities could begin buying homes and lending to homeowners as soon as January or February.

Funds generated from the sale of homes must flow back into the program.

Cities and counties can use their funds to purchase property and also establish programs to lend grant money to buyers whose household incomes don't exceed 120 percent of the area's median income.

Most of them are still working on a process to identify which homes to purchase.

In Mesquite, where the foreclosure rate is the highest among North Texas cities and exceeds the state average, Mr. Keheley is working with city leaders on how to distribute money to buyers. Right now, the city is trying to identify a nonprofit organization that can disperse grants to qualified people.

"We want to avoid getting in the financing of homes," Mr. Keheley said.

In Grand Prairie, Housing and Neighborhood Services director William Hills has worked with city officials to develop a program that will sell the city-owned rehabilitated homes to qualified government employees who work in Grand Prairie. The city will also provide grants up to $20,000 for down payment and closing cost assistance for approved citizens buying a foreclosed home in the city.

Council member Tony Shotwell said he didn't see why the city should restrict the program to only government employees, such as teachers or police officers.

"I understand the reasoning behind it, but it's still singling out one specific, very small subset of the populous," he said. "Why couldn't it be for nurses or people who mow grass? Federal money I thought should be out there for everybody."

Libby Clawson, president of Westchester Association of Homeowners in Grand Prairie, said she has seen several homes for sale west of Carrier Parkway and south of Interstate 20. The city program could potentially benefit Mrs. Clawson's neighborhood if those homes remain vacant.

"Right now it's not bad," Mrs. Clawson said, "but a year from now when all the houses haven't sold, then it's going to be bad."