Mayor, housing advocates urge lenders to drop lawsuit and help struggling families
Publicado el 2010-04-08 22:59:46 [0 comentarios]
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MAYOR CICILLINE, HOUSING ADVOCATES URGE LENDERS
TO DROP LAWSUIT & HELP STRUGGLING FAMILIES
Several financial institutions are challenging a City ordinance that
protects families against foreclosures
PROVIDENCE – Mayor David N. Cicilline, Housing Action Coalition of Rhode Island Executive Director Brenda Clement and housing advocates today sent a strong message to several financial institutions from the steps of the Superior Court. The group urged the three lenders to drop their legal challenge of a City ordinance that requires financial institutions to participate in mediation with the homeowner before proceeding with foreclosure.
“The financial institutions at the center of this legal challenge have all benefited greatly from the federal government’s taxpayer-subsidized bailout,” said Mayor Cicilline. “They have a moral obligation to participate in a HUD-supervised mediation process with individuals threatened with foreclosure. It’s simply the right thing to do.
“It is unconscionable for a financial institution to attempt to stop this mediation process. Filing a lawsuit to block our efforts to help homeowners is simple outrageous,” added the Mayor. “These financial institutions have accepted federal bailout money paid for by taxpayers and they have an obligation to exhaust all efforts before taking the home of a taxpayer.”
“With over 20,000 additional foreclosures projected in the state between now and 2012, we urge Deutche Bank and other mortgage lenders to work with us and not against us in our efforts to keep homeowners and tenants in their homes,” said Clement. “According to the Center for Responsible Lending, over $5 billion of home equity wealth will be lost statewide due to foreclosures by 2012. This ‘spillover effect’ has resulted in lower property values for all homeowners and a reduced tax base for our communities.”
The ordinance, signed into law by Mayor Cicilline in August of 2009, provides a safety valve for owner-occupied homeowners who are facing imminent foreclosure. The law establishes a mandatory mediation process between the homeowner and mortgage holder and a third-party, HUD-approved counselor. Under provisions of the ordinance, the City will not accept a deed filed by the lender until the mediation process has been completed.
Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., Deutsche Bank National Trust Company and the Bank of New York Mellon Trust Company, NA, have filed a lawsuit in the Superior Court seeking a preliminary injunction to stop the City from enforcing the ordinance. A hearing on the case in the Superior Court is scheduled for Thursday, April 8 at 2pm.
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