Rhode Island will receive $19.6 million to buy, fix up and sell foreclosed properties as its share of a $3.92-billion federal program aimed at curbing the impact of foreclosures.

“Vacant, foreclosed homes can invite crime and drag down neighborhood property values,” Sen. Jack Reed said in a statement announcing the grant award. “This federal aid will help protect homeowners and neighborhoods by allowing local communities to purchase and rehabilitate foreclosed homes and abandoned properties across the state.”

Reed, a senior member of the Senate Banking Committee, helped craft the housing legislation that allocated funding for the grants. The grant awards were announced by the Department of Housing and Urban Development on Friday.

Rhode Island has the highest foreclosure rate in New England and ranks sixth highest nationally in foreclosures started during the second quarter of this year, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. In April, May and June, an estimated 1,700 mortgage holders in Rhode Island began foreclosure proceedings, the association reported.

The $19.6 million is the state’s share of the national Neighborhood Stabilization Program that was part of the Housing Economic and Recovery Act approved in July.

The allocations were based on foreclosures started during the last 18 months, according to HUD’s Web site.

Rhode Island’s percentage of foreclosures was listed at 6 percent.

Massachusetts, where the statewide foreclosure rate is 4.6 percent, will receive $54.8 million — $43.46 million for its statewide program, plus another $11.34 million split among Boston, Brockton, Springfield and Worcester, according to the HUD Web site.

The biggest share of the funds went to states such as California, which was awarded $529 million. The foreclosure rate in California is 6.7 percent, according to HUD.

State and local governments can use the grants for purchase, demolition and rehabilitation of foreclosure property. The money also can be used to assist low- and moderate-income homebuyers with down payments or closing costs or to fund “land banks” to purchase vacant land for redevelopment, according to HUD.

“Many of these vacant houses have been stripped of their innards, so to restore properties back is an expensive proposition,” Brenda Clement, executive director of the nonprofit Statewide Housing Coalition, said Friday, shortly before Reed’s announcement.

The funding is provided through HUD’s Community Development Block Grant Program under the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. The law also clamped down on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; modernized and updated the Federal Housing Administration, and created a program to enable homeowners at risk of foreclosure to refinance into 30-year fixed-rate conventional mortgages. The act also required stricter licensing standards for mortgage brokers.

larditi@projo.com