Foreclosure Prevention

Councilman Nurse’s proposal to shift funds towards a significant increase in foreclosure prevention counseling has been before the Housing Services Committee of City Council. The staff will come back in early July with a plan to do this. City Council will then review it in committee and send it to the full council. Our hope is to kick off a major effort to help those homeowners, who live in their home and took a “teaser rate” mortgage, through the process of refinancing to a traditional 30-year loan that they can afford. We hope to prevent hundreds of foreclosure in St. Petersburg. This helps the homeowner and the neighborhood not have empty houses.

UPDATE - 7/12/08
I attended a foreclosure prevention event today put on by our Congressmember
Kathy Castor in Tampa where over 400 people got help from banks, and non-profit counseling agencies to refinance their homes and prevent foreclosure.
Cong. Castor has agreed to help us put on a similiar event in St. Petersburg
in the fall. Details will follow.

HELP IS ON THE WAY - We have successfully transferred $100,000 in housing funds to be used to staff foreclosure prevention counselors at non-profit
housing related agencies effective August 1st. We hope to save several hundred families from losing homes as a result of this counseling. The experts will be able to steer families through the refinancing process to
avoid foreclosure.

8/5/08 - The first agency to get funding for foreclosure prevention counseling is Tampa Bay C.D.C. Their phone number is 446-6222. Additional
agencies will be funded starting October 1st.

Foreclosure Prevention Workshop is August 16th at 9AM at the Enoch Davis Center, 1111 -18th Ave. S. Banks, counselors and speakers will all be available. Today, I was the guest on the Police and Community show on WRXB
in an effort to spread the word on the workshop.

The City and County will jointed sponsor a similiar event at the Colesium on
October 18th from 9 AM - 1PM. We will have representatives of several banks,
foreclosure prevention counselors, and other agencies available to help homeowners avoid foreclosure.