This no-cost proposal will help save resources by preventing the public safety hazards that surround foreclosed properties, stabilizing property values, and preventing the housing instability that unnecessary evictions cause.

Foreclosures are devastating our communities in Massachusetts – The Federal Reserve reports that more than 33,300 Massachusetts homeowners are delinquent on their home loans due to a combination of high unemployment, negative property equity, (where the homeowner owes more than the value of the home) and risky lending.  As of February, 2010, an additional 30,700 Massachusetts homes were already bank-owned or in the foreclosure process.
The Warren Group, an independent publisher of real estate data, said there were 1,283 foreclosure deeds filed in Massachusetts last month, up nearly 120 percent from the previous year. Through the first five months of 2010, the number of completed foreclosures was nearly double last year’s pace.
A Foreclosure Bill (H. 4595) is in the House Ways and Means Committeethat will help tenants and homeowners. It has already passed the Senate unanimously. This no-cost proposal will help save resources by preventing the public safety hazards that surround foreclosed properties, stabilizing property values, and preventing the housing instability that unnecessary evictions cause. The Bill does the following: 1)      Provides eviction protections to tenants in foreclosed properties who are in good standing and continue to pay rent. 2) Establishes a framework for negotiations between lenders and homeowners to work together to create a mutually-acceptable loan modification. Participating in loan modification negotiations would be voluntary but lenders that do not participate will have to wait 150 days to foreclose on the property (up from current 90 day right to cure).  This provision sunsets in 2016. 3)  Creates an abandoned and foreclosed property registry to track distressed properties. 4) Encourages redevelopment of foreclosed properties by providing a local option to exclude nonprofits from property taxes during the term that the nonprofit rehabilitates the home and converts it into affordable housing. 5)  Criminalizes mortgage fraud. 6)  Requires counseling in order to receive a reverse mortgage.  A reverse mortgage is where a senior homeowner receives a loan on their home equity and the loan is paid back when the homeowner sell the home or passes away.

JALSA thanks CHAPA andd MAAPL for their continuing leadership on this legislation.

For more information on the bill, click on Fact Sheet