Helping Foreclosure Victims Return Home

by Shannon Moriarty · 2009-05-15 06:11:00 UTC
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The scenario is all too common: Family gets foreclosed. Nonprofit takes control of property and resells as an affordable unit. New family moves in to property.

Bravo, right? Well, not really. What happens the family that was originally displaced?

Blogger David Holtzman at Rooflines articulated this frustration:

It was often disappointing during the long housing boom to see the affordable housing stock continue to dwindle even as CDCs continued to build more supply. In a somewhat similar vein, one of the frustrations of the foreclosure crisis has occurred to me as I watch creative non-profits get hold of foreclosed properties, spend money to make them livable, and make them available to people who need affordable units. What about the people who lived in those foreclosed units and in many cases lost their homes because of the shady practices of predatory lenders? What happens to them?

In light of this conundrum, some nonprofits are focusing on helping the victims of foreclosure stay in their homes. Boston Community Capitol, a nonprofit highlighted in last week's Globe, works as an intermediary between the banks and the foreclosure victims to help families purchase back their home, usually at a much more affordable rate.

Seems to me, that this arrangement is a win-win for everyone involved. The bank gets the home off their hands (since they'd probably have difficulty selling it anyway), the neighborhood is not affected by the blight and decay that often comes with a vacant property, and- most importantly- the displaced family returns to their home and neighborhood.

Let's hope other nonprofits involved in the buying/selling of foreclosed properties see the logic here and follow suit.

[Photo from the Boston Globe: ''I'm a happy homeowner again with a payment I can live with,'' said Thomas Quinn, with his daughter Hayley and his girlfriend, Pam Morrison.]

Shannon Moriarty has worked in various homeless shelters and service organizations around the country. She is a graduate student studying housing and urban policy at Tufts University.
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