LAS VEGAS -- Gov. Jim Gibbons has taken the first steps to start repairing Valley communities ravaged by foreclosure, according to the Review-Journal.

During a Monday meeting, the governor, state bankers and local government officials discussed the Neighborhood Stabilization Program.

Under the plan, foreclosed homes would be bought with federal grant money and renovated, then sold to low- and middle-income families.

The federal government will be giving the state $4 million to handle foreclosure hotspots across the state. Neighborhoods with 15 to 20 homes in foreclosure will be the first targeted.

The homes would be offered to qualified first-time homebuyers in bank-owned houses. The home buyers would get loans from the state's First Time Homebuyer Program.