The grant will allow the Department of Neighborhood Development to support redevelopment of up to 275 foreclosed homes in Dorchester, East Boston, Roxbury, Hyde Park and Mattapan.

Buyers of foreclosed properties in those neighborhoods may be eligible for low-interest loans or grants of up to $50,000 for purchase and renovation costs.

“This award accelerates our ability to impact the foreclosure challenges that were facing,” said Mayor Thomas M. Menino in a statement. “We’re making important progress, but our neighborhoods are still in danger.”

Boston was one of 482 applicants requesting over $15 billion from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in foreclosure funding. Since passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the city has received nearly $280 million in formula and competitive grants as well as bond allocations.

The NSP initiative was created as part of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, designed to boost local economies through the provision of resources to purchase and rehab foreclosed homes. Boston received $4.23 million in 2009 during the first funding round, and later received a matching grant from the state. The latest award brings Boston’s total federal foreclosure funding to more than $21 million.

The campaign seeks to allow Boston’s neighborhoods to recover from the nationwide foreclosure crisis through targeted programs that support existing homeowners while adding new buyers to the market, among other things. Under the umbrella of this initiative, DND has overseen the direct acquisition of 33 units of housing, and is in the process of negotiating the purchase of more than 100 others from banks.

The Obama administration on Monday set long-awaited guidance on a plan for mortgage companies to speed up short sales of homes and other loan modification alternatives to stem the rising tide of foreclosures. The Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives Program provides financial incentives and simplifies the procedures for completing short sales, a growing practice in which a lender agrees to accept the sale price of a home to pay off a mortgage even if the price falls short of the amount owed. The announcement can be found here.

The new federal guidelines address barriers that have often sidelined short sales by setting limits on the time it takes a bank to approve an offer, freeing borrowers from debt and capping claims of subordinate lenders. New financial incentives for completing short sales or similar “deed-in-lieu” transactions — in which the deed is simply transferred to the lender — include a $1,000 payment to servicers, and a maximum of $1,000 to go to investors who sign off on payments to subordinate lien holders, the Treasury said. Borrowers would also receive $1,500 in relocation expenses.

While a short sale may be preferable to a foreclosure, they have been frustrating for borrowers, buyers and Realtors, because they are often hung up by lengthy negotiations with multiple lien holders and mortgage insurance companies. Realtors have complained that sales fall through as lenders bicker over the sales price, what they should receive from the proceeds, and whether the borrower will be held accountable for the debt in the future.

Under the new rules, mortgage servicers have 10 days to approve or disapprove a request for short sale, and when done the transaction must fully release the borrower from the debt. The rules also prohibits mortgage servicing companies from reducing real estate commissions on the sale, a practice that has dissuaded many agents from taking short sale listings.

Ostensibly, the federal guidelines apply only to banks and lenders subject to federal banking oversight. That means big boys Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo, but not necessarily local and state chartered banks who remain free to be as unreasonable as they want in short sale transactions.

This will help, but by how much remains to be seen.