Attorney General Martha Coakley’s office is funneling money from a state settlement with Fremont Mortgage Lending to fund more than $1 million in renovations of foreclosed and abandoned residential properties.

The grant program will allow community development organizations, cities and towns and nonprofit housing groups to rehabilitate abandoned properties and stem neighborhood decline, according to Coakley’s office.

The funds can be used to renovate abandoned properties, leverage additional funding or provide services to make properties habitable.

The grant money stems from a $10 settlement reached in 2009 by the attorney general’s office against subprime lender, Fremont Investment & Loan, and its parent company, Fremont General Corporation.

The attorney general sued Fremont in 2007 accusing it of predatory lending practices. 

Under the terms of the settlement, Fremont has also agreed not to foreclose on unfair loans or originate unfair loans in the Commonwealth, according to Coakley’s office.

"I am pleased that funds we have obtained through our subprime lending enforcement efforts will be allocated to abandoned property rehabilitation and will help to provide housing opportunities for the people of the Commonwealth," said Attorney General Martha Coakley. 

"This grant program will help alleviate the stress of the foreclosure crisis by utilizing funds to rehabilitate abandoned properties and will improve the safety and wellbeing of our communities by preventing these properties from being left in chaos," she said.