BONITA SPRINGS, FL - For years, Lee County's Affordable Housing Committee has worked to help people achieve the American dream. Now they want to keep it from being taken away. The committee recommended last week that county commissioners create a $1 million fund to help homeowners prevent mortgage foreclosures. The money is funding that typically would go to help buyers get into homes.
"The money ordinarily would go for new construction," said Gloria Sajgo, affordable housing planner for the county. "But there is such a need in terms of foreclosure." There is such a need that local courts are having trouble handling all the cases. "It's ugly," said Clerk of Courts Charlie Green, who took the bad news to county commissioners a week ago.
Green said there are 22,000 cases backed up in court. "It's a sad thing," Green said. "You're sitting in what was your home, the suit's been filed, and you're just waiting for the sheriff to come and throw you out." Green said many of the foreclosures were filed against speculators who rode the real estate market too long. For those he has little sympathy. "We went through about three years that were so twisted out of proportion," he said. "I thought we hit bottom in February."
In January 2006, Green said, there were 92 foreclosures filed in Lee County. During the same month in 2007, there were 481. In 2008, that ballooned to 2,294 cases. It climbed to 2,460 this February, and peaked at 2,518 in June. The total fell in July and then again the next month, but August still saw 2,154 filings. "The only reason we never had a foreclosure prevention program before was it really was not an issue," Sajgo said.
Sajgo said the county created a foreclosure prevention program months ago, but it targeted only those homeowners who had received down payment help, and was funded only with $100,000. The new program would be available for any homeowner who fits the criteria. A homeowner would have to show they could keep up with mortgage payments after the one-time assist and would have to agree to credit counseling.
There would be income standards as well. A family of four would qualify as workforce housing with a household income of $83,000 or less. "I think the significant thing is when we made the $100,000 available, it was for SHIP people only," Sajgo said. SHIP is State Housing Initiative Partnership, a state home-buying assistance program. "This is for everyone," she said. The most any household could qualify for would be $8,000, Sajgo said. That would boost 25 homeowners. Sajgo said many likely need less, so more people could be helped.
Green said anything that helps is good. "They're going to run out of houses to foreclose on," he said. "I think we're skipping along the bottom right now." County commissioners would have to approve the new program, which likely won't happen for 30 days or so. The money would be distributed through existing housing non-profit groups.
Source: NaplesNews.com