Foreclosure Recovery Strategies

Information by State  Print version   Helpful Tools NSP Resource Exchange This website is a one-stop shop for the information and resources needed by NSP grantees, subrecipients and developers to purchase, rehabilitate, and resell foreclosed properties. more… NSP Target Area Maps These maps show the census tracts and block groups that identify areas of greatest need that were designated by Neighborhood Stabilization Program grantees. more… Foreclosure Mortgage Maps These maps show conditions and density of owner-occupied subprime mortgage loans for the states, counties and zip codes in the United States. more... MERS A process developed by the real estate industry that keeps track of the identity of servicers. more... What's New First Look “First Look” gives state and local governments and nonprofit organizations participating in HUD's Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) preference to acquire homes from the Department's inventory of foreclosed properties. more... NSP Definition Change This Federal Register Notice broadens the definition of terms “abandoned” and “foreclosed” properties that served as a substantial barrier to the preservation of existing affordable housing and limited a grantee’s ability to intervene strategically during the foreclosure process. more... NSP3 Mapping Tool This tool assists NSP3 applicants to prepare data to submit with their grant application by allowing applicants to draw the exact location of their target neighborhood. The tool will then calculate the Neighborhood NSP3 Score of the area drawn and send an email back to the applicant within 24 hours. The email will have an attachment containing the necessary data for the NSP3 application, along with information HUD can use to confirm the intended program area. The applicant should then submit this document with their grant application. more... New Foreclosure Prevention Measures Treasury announces new initiative to write down mortgage principal for homeowners, postpone or reduce mortgage payments, and expand FHA refinancing efforts for underwater homeowners. more... Fannie Mae Rental Option Fannie Mae announced that it will begin allowing borrowers on the verge of foreclosure to rent back their homes for up to one year. The new Deeds for Lease Program is designed for borrowers who do not qualify for or have not been able to sustain other loan-workout solutions, such as a modification. Under the program, borrowers transfer their property to the lender by completing a deed in lieu of foreclosure, and then lease back the house at a market rate. more... NSP Analysis Enterprise Community Partners recently released results of an analysis of draft NSP submissions and identified promising practices that are likely to increase the impact and effectiveness of NSP funds. PDF Foreclosure-Response.org An online guide to foreclosure prevention and neighborhood stabilization developed by the Center for Housing Policy. The Web site includes a comprehensive policy guide on strategies for preventing and responding to foreclosures. Website | Promising Practices NJ Mortgage Relief and Stabilization Act (January 2009) Provides $40 million from the state's Long Term Obligation and Capital Expenditure Fund to create a Mortgage Stabilization Program that will provide soft second loans to induce lenders to reduce the principal of mortgages so owners can refinance to loans they can afford. It also establishes the New Jersey Housing Assistance and Recovery Program that allows a non-profit to buy a property in foreclosure and keeps the owner in the home under a lease-purchase agreement for up to 36 months until the homeowner can repurchase the home. PDF NJ Rent Back Program Federal Home Loan Bank of New York and Magyar Bank fund NJ Housing Assistance and Recovery Program in New Jersey. First Baptist Community Development Corporation purchases homes from program participants and leases them back at affordable rents, allowing homeowner to stay in the home until they are able to establish the credit worthiness needed to repurchase the property. PDF | News Release Transforming Foreclosed Properties This Furman Center report summarizes discussion by housing researchers, policymakers, lenders, and nonprofit housing organizations on how to leverage public and private resources to reuse foreclosed properties in a manner that helps stabilize neighborhoods. PDF Green City Homes Duluth, MN will use a recently announced $250,000 HOME grant award to fund Northern Communities Land Trust (NCLT), a local Community Housing Development Organization (CHDO), to acquire and substantially rehabilitate 10 blighted, vacant and/or foreclosed units for sale to low-income households. more... FDIC Loan Modifications FDIC&'s systematic loan modification program reduces first lien mortgage payments to as low as 31% of monthly income. The loss-share guarantee on redefaults of modified mortgages can provide the necessary incentive to modify mortgages on a sufficient scale. more... Draft NSP Plans Center for Housing Policy provides links to draft NSP plans that are posted for public comment as they become available. more... NGA Best Practices Memo dealing with state and local efforts to stabilize neighborhoods outlines best practices in neighborhood stabilization. PDF Best use of NSP Funds Federal Reserve Bank discussion paper provides guidance on best use of Neighborhood Stabilization Program Funds to stabilize hard-hit neighborhoods. PDF Summit on Housing HUD hosted a national housing summit in Washington, DC on October 7-8, and is conducting a series of regional conferences in Los Angeles, Columbus, and Orlando to explain the details of this new program to governors, mayors, county executives and other State and local leaders. Washington, DC Presentations NSP Program Highlights NeighborWorks America The NeighborWorks Community Stabilization website includes a description of funding available from HUD's Neighborhood Stabilization Program, how funds can be used, targeting requirements, how to apply, and other resources to help communities and nonprofit organizations stabilize and revitalize neighborhoods affected by home foreclosures. www.stablecommunities.org Knowledgeplex Webchat Presentations are available from October 2, 2008 webchat dealing with Neighborhood Stabilization Grants. Experts discussed strategies on how to best use these funds to stabilize those neighborhoods under distress from foreclosures. more... Related Information   Neighborhood Stabilization Program CDBG Neighborhood Stabilization Program provides emergency assistance for redevelopment of abandoned and foreclosed homes.   HOME Affordability Identifies continued affordability periods for HOME program.   Lease Purchase White Paper This paper provides reasons why a lease-purchase strategy should be adopted by nonprofit developers to take advantage of bargain acquisition opportunities in the housing market.   Planning Grants Citigroup provided planning grants to local housing organizations in 12 communities across the country to help them revitalize communities hardest hit by residential housing foreclosures.   MacArthur Foundation The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is investing $68 million in grants and low-interest loans in foreclosure prevention and mitigation efforts in local neighborhoods.   Housing & Economic Recovery Act Summary Housing legislation that aims to shore up the struggling housing market, provides $3.92 billion in emergency assistance (CDBG Funds) to stabilize neighborhoods and communities hardest hit by the foreclosures, and offers a $7,500 first-time homebuyer tax credit. Emergency CDBG Assistance Tax provisions   Conference of Mayors Report features a variety of abandoned property strategies and remedies for dealing with the impact of the mortgage foreclosure crisis on neighborhoods.   ShoreBank Foreclosure Rescue Loan provides refinancing to home owners caught up in the mortgage lending meltdown. It issued 90 Rescue Home Loans worth $16.6 million to homeowners between October and April and aims to issue another 510 rescue loans before the end of 2008.   Short-term Emergency Loans Examples of assistance offered by five different short-term emergency loan programs.   Resources For additional information about how cities and organizations are responding detailing the multiple waves of the foreclosure crisis.   Action Steps for States This Brookings paper describes 10 action steps that states can take to mitigate the impact of foreclosures on families and neighborhoods.   Foreclosure to Homelessness This report identifies strategies which could help reduce the severity of the crisis on individuals and families who lose their homes to foreclosure.   Enterprise Community Partners Proposal for Great American Dream Neighborhood Stabilization Fund to provide money quickly and efficiently to local non-profit organizations or municipalities to purchase foreclosed properties and offer them for sale.   Federal Reserve Board   FHA Revitalization Areas   HUD's Dollar Homes HUD makes it possible for communities to fix up homes that can act as catalysts for neighborhood revitalization, attracting new residents and businesses to an area.   Land Banks Examples of how some state and local governments and organizations are addressing the problem through creation and operation of land banks.   National Governor's Conference This provides examples of state strategies to address the foreclosure crisis.   National League of Cities This City Practice Brief presents examples of how cities are using different tools to address the foreclosure crisis.   Neighborworks This provides an overview of best practices around foreclosure intervention efforts.   State Responses to Foreclosures A comprehensive look at what states have been doing in response to the foreclosure crisis.

The foreclosure crisis threatens to unravel significant progress and reinvestments communities made through neighborhood revitalization efforts. Here are examples of how some state and local governments and organizations are addressing the problem:

Mortgage Resolution Fund

U.S. Department of the Treasury has approved an application by the Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA) to allocate $100 million of that state’s Hardest Hit Funds to a newly-created Mortgage Resolution Fund (MRF). MRF will use the Hardest Hit Funds to acquire defaulted mortgage loans, with a goal of modifying those loans so that existing homeowners can remain in their homes with a right-sized loan and affordable payments. MRF expects to work in five or more states which have received federal allocations of Hardest Hit Funds.
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SUN Initiative

The SUN Initiative (stands for ”Stabilizing Urban Neighborhoods”) designed by Boston Community Capital works with banks and attorneys to stop the eviction process, purchase foreclosed properties at current market values, and resell those properties to their current occupants at a significant discount off the prior mortgage value. SUN provides foreclosed homeowners with a new 30-year, fixed rate mortgage.
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REO and Vacant Properties: Strategies for Neighborhood Stabilization

This report contains seventeen articles that examine a variety of neighborhood stabilization issues. The collection highlights both areas of need--such as for data, technology, and collaboration--and promising solutions from communities across the country. Examples include the Cuyahoga County, Ohio, land bank that holds vacant properties until they can be returned to productive use, and Boston Community Capital’s efforts to purchase foreclosed properties and sell them back to former owners or tenants using a licensed mortgage affiliate.
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Innovative NSP Strategies for Low-Income Housing

This report highlights how Knoxville, Phoenix, Cleveland, Greenville County, and Hamilton County leveraged Neighborhood Stabilization Program funds with other resources to preserve and increase the community’s supply of affordable housing for very low-income families.
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Regional Resilience in the Face of Foreclosures

This report compares local responses to the foreclosure crisis by leaders and organizations in six housing markets.  The most resilient metropolitan areas had strong housing nonprofits and a history of collaboration between the public, private, and nonprofit sectors.
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Living Cities Pilot Program

Promising local approaches for returning foreclosed properties to productive use in strong, moderate and weak housing markets such as Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles, Massachusetts, New York City, Rhode Island, Twin Cities and Washington, DC.
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National Lease Purchase Initiative

Self-Help has developed a national lease-purchase initiative to help local nonprofits buy single-family properties using a Fannie Mae mortgage product, and lease the homes to families who are not yet mortgage-ready but can get there within a five-year time frame.
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Freddie Mac REO Rental Initiative

Freddie Mac program allows former owner-occupants and tenants the option to lease foreclosed properties in which they reside. This help stabilize communities and reduce losses due to vandalism by keeping more foreclosed homes occupied and in better condition. The leases are month-to-month and Freddie Mac will be actively marketing the properties for sale during the term of the lease.
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Federal Reserve Forums

Presentations and best practices from a series of forums designed to help communities recover from the negative impacts of foreclosures on borrowers and neighborhoods.
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NYU Foreclosed Properties Roundtable

Housing experts discuss how to best leverage public and private resources to reuse foreclosed properties in a manner that helps stabilize neighborhoods.
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State Summit on Foreclosures and Housing Solutions

National experts discuss actions states could take to mitigate the rising number of foreclosures, prevent future foreclosures, and sustain neighborhoods in a weakening economy.
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NeighborWorks Symposium

This meeting examined a range of issues affecting neighborhoods where homeowners are facing foreclosure. A number of resources from the symposium are now available, including a video describing local efforts.
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Enterprise Community Partners

	Enterprise foreclosure testimony
	Rochester, NY
	Los Angeles, CA

Local Initiatives Support Corporation Case Studies

	Atlanta, GA
	Cleveland, OH
	Indianapolis, IN
	New York City, NY

New York State

Foreclosure Prevention and Mitigation for Affordable Mortgage Lending

Ohio State

	Recovery from Foreclosure
	Foreclosure Resource Center

Cities

	Chicago, IL
	Denver, CO
	Minneapolis, MN   Residential Mortgage Foreclosures in Minneapolis   5-Point Strategy   The Coordinated Plan to Address Foreclosures   Minnesota Foreclosure Partners Council
	Riverside, CA
	Rochester, NY
	St. Paul, MN