ThisWeek Community Newspapers

Thursday, July 27, 2006

Richard Cordray is the Franklin County Treasurer.

I have written extensively on the problem of home foreclosure in Ohio and more specifically here in Franklin County.

Our state continues to have the worst mortgage foreclosure rates in the nation. According to Policy Matters, a research institute, 63,996 foreclosures were filed last year in Ohio, representing one for every 71 Ohio households. Here in Franklin County, the number of foreclosures has nearly quadrupled over the past 10 years.

We would all point some fingers at predatory lending as a major culprit, and there is no doubt that it has played a significant part in creating the problem. So it is timely for us all to give credit to our legislators for passing Senate Bill 185, which creates some of the toughest anti-predatory lending laws in the country. Special credit also goes to Bill Faith of the Coalition on Housing and Homelessness in Ohio and Ron Bridges of AARP for pushing the legislature to stop ignoring this issue.

Many individuals and groups have stepped up to deal with foreclosure prevention and intervention in Franklin County. It is time that they too be publicly recognized.

Four HUD-approved housing counseling agencies have shown an amazing ability to work together to remediate the problem, including Columbus Housing Partnership (CHP), Consumer Credit Counseling Services, Homes on the HiIl, and the Mid Ohio Regional Planning Commission.

These agencies all feature housing counselors who provide those in foreclosure with budgeting, advocacy and a host of other important services. In addition, CHP and Homes on the Hill have a limited amount of mortgage payment assistance funds, along with Columbus Leads, Franklin County Job & Family Services and Veterans' Services.

FirstLink, an information and referral agency for the United Way, has developed a convenient 211 telephone number that provides callers with a variety of community resources, including food, clothing, and shelter. The Equal Justice Foundation and Legal Aid are nonprofit law firms that provide legal representation for low-income persons in cases involving unfair lending practices that lead to default and foreclosure.

The Columbus Urban League has shown great leadership in pulling all of these organizations into a cohesive group, as well as providing its own counseling classes, advocacy and research in the housing arena. This year, a coalition of Neighborworks, The Homeownership Preservation Foundation, the Columbus Foundation and CHP joined forces to provide a statewide hotline for free foreclosure counseling. The phone number is 888-995-HOPE, and it will help enable many families to keep their homes.

The Save Our Homes Task Force grew out of a foreclosure summit I called last December.

Composed of lenders, realtors, builders, nonprofits and government agencies, this organization of concerned citizens has been highly organized, motivated, committed and self-directed. Members are determined to make a difference on this problem. Save Our Homes meets on the third Tuesday of each month at the Consumer Credit Counseling Services, 4500 E. Broad St. from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Attendance has remained strong even in these summer months when attendance dwindles in most organizations.

Save Our Homes has worked on many worthwhile initiatives. It has developed and distributed one-page information sheets to encourage individuals in mortgage default to call their lender. A recent national survey revealed that 60-percent of individuals in default on their mortgage did not know to call their lender for possible work-out options that could help save their home.

So far, Save Our Homes has had foreclosure seminars in neighborhoods in the southeast and southwest with the highest foreclosure rates in Franklin County. Plans are under way for more sessions, free and open to the public:

Aug. 8, 6:30-8:30 p.m. at Homes on the Hill, 12 S. Terrace Ave. This session targets the areas near the Hilltop, especially zip codes 43204, 43223 and 43228. Sessions will be conducted entirely in Spanish to focus on the needs of our Hispanic community.

Aug. 9, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Easton Towne Center Community Room, 3891 Gramercy St. This session targets the northeast side, especially zip codes 43004, 43224, and 43229.

We have found that many individuals in the helping professions need to better understand the foreclosure process, including work-out options available through loan servicers.

Accordingly, Save Our Homes plans to host foreclosure intervention seminars for social workers, realtors, brokers, and attorneys. The first one is free and will offer continuing education units for social workers from 1 to 4 p.m. on Aug. 22 at the Columbus Police Academy, 1000 N. Hague Ave. (on the Hilltop). Mildred Wilkins, president of Home Ownership Matters, an expert in foreclosure intervention, will be the instructor.

There is no question that action is needed to give people more know-how about how to deal with our looming foreclosure crisis. As interest rates rise, the problem will get worse before it gets better.

Feel free to call my office at 614-462-3438 if you are interested in learning more about Save Our Homes or about what you can do to help deal with the foreclosure problem in our communities.