In 1999, the City of Richmond launched Neighborhoods in Bloom, a multi-year, coordinated strategy to improve seven neighborhoods in areas with high incidence of vacant and abandoned properties. The city targeted the bulk of its federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds, its Home Investment Partnership (HOME) funds, as well as significant amounts of capital improvement funds to build and renovate four hundred housing units. With the assistance of community development corporations and the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority, nearly 400 new or renovated houses were sold and more than 130 owners repaired their homes. Since its initiation, occupancy rates have risen eleven percent and housing prices have increased 9.9 percent faster per year than the citywide average.