STEP FORWARD - Shriver Center

By Sam Tuttle, Housing Staff Attorney

Increasingly, homeowners across the country are facing the loss of their homes not simply through foreclosure but because they cannot keep up with their property taxes. 

As in many states, Illinois homeowners who are delinquent in their taxes may lose possession of their homes to private parties who pay the homeowners’ delinquent taxes, rather than paying the market value. The private party, or tax purchaser, then takes ownership, irrespective of the years the homeowner may have been making payments on the home. Consequently, homeowners who owed less than $1,000 in unpaid taxes have lost their homes due to a tax delinquency, even though the equity in their homes was 30 or 40 times that.  (more…)

By Ilze Hirsh, Vice President of Communication Programs

The feasibility of loan modification, attacking foreclosure rescue fraud, report cards grading attorneys general, and the targeting of certain neighborhoods and language groups were just a few of the topics on the table during a Shriver Center-hosted conference call on the foreclosure crisis. On June 16, advocates from legal aid programs in more than half the states and from several national organizations described successes and frustrations and picked each other’s brains for new ideas during the call, which was convened by Clearinghouse Review legal editors. When the call was announced the response was immediate and overwhelming; in the end fewer than half of those who expressed interest could be accommodated. (more…)

By Brian Clappier, Community Investment Specialist

Home is where the heart is, so the saying goes, and for many Americans, it is also where the majority of their assets lie. Unfortunately, as home foreclosures rose by 78 percent in 2007 to 1.77 million, with another 3 million expected to go into default by mid-2009, this year is proving itself calamitous for the hearts, homes, and assets of many Americans. Amid this foreclosure tsunami, Congress has still not taken substantive action.

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