Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Louise Wu on July 29, 2011 at 7:40am

It's great for you to suggest these resources,  but they have not been helpful.  We've contacted and visited all of them several times about my neighbor who was foreclosed on while she was trying to have to lawyers transfer the deed of the house into her name after her husband's death.  We're pretty shocked by their lack of response.  Do you have any recent experience with any of these agencies, or contacts who might help?  So far, the Center for Constitutional Rights in NY City, and the new attorney general, have been responsive.  

 

Many thanks!

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Permalink Reply by Joan Roby-Davison on July 29, 2011 at 9:43am

Yes - I've had recent experience with the Housing Council, and the Empire Justice Center.  The only situation in which they were unable to do anything was on an investor-owned property that had gone into foreclosure.  If you contact me at the office (328-5750), I can direct you to specific staff at those agencies.  You may also want to check with NeighborWorks Rochester, which is an affiliate of NeighborWorks NYS. 

 

Please keep in mind that they still may not be able to stop all foreclosure action, but there are a number of programs and resources available that were not present even few years ago.  

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Permalink Reply by Judi Baker on July 29, 2011 at 7:53am

Hi Joan, the Clean Sweep pics are here:  http://rochesterrams.webs.com  sorry for the delay

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Permalink Reply by Joan Roby-Davison on July 29, 2011 at 9:44am

Judi - thanks so much!  It was a great day - the kids were wonderful!

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Permalink Reply by Ken Maher on July 29, 2011 at 7:58am

So does Pathstone (formerly Rural Opportunities).

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Permalink Reply by Margy Meath on July 29, 2011 at 8:11am

thanks for the suggestions Joan. Re: Louise's comment above: my guess is that the agencies you and Ken have suggested need to hear directly from/work with the homeowner (or legal representative) prior to actual the foreclosure/eviction. it is my understanding that an actual eviction takes quite some time to enact and that there are several prior legal 'steps' that occur ahead of that process.

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Permalink Reply by Louise Wu on July 29, 2011 at 8:22am

I thought she said "ANY stage."

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Permalink Reply by Louise Wu on July 29, 2011 at 8:23am

The homeowner was there.

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Permalink Reply by Louise Wu on July 29, 2011 at 8:25am

I'll tell them about Rural Opportunities/Pathstone.  Thanks!

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Permalink Reply by Joan Roby-Davison on August 23, 2011 at 10:26am

During the many conversations about foreclosures, particularly in SW Rochester, I contacted Bryan Hetherington, Director of the Empire Justice Center, to let him know of the concerns and criticism of his organization.  Below is his reply.  If you have further questions, please contact him directly at 454-4060. 

 

Joan,

 

Thank you for bringing to my attention the questions and concerns raised by some 19th Ward residents about Empire Justice's decisions on whether to represent individuals in foreclosure cases.  I am sorry about the delay in responding. I was out of the state and without access to e-mail.

 

Unfortunately our funding for foreclosure defense is very limited.  We can only represent a small fraction of the people who need our help and would benefit from it.  These cases are very fact and time intensive. But our staff spending the time needed to win is what gets our clients favorable results.

We hate turning anyone down who could benefit from legal services.  But in order to be successful for the clients we have agreed to represent, we must limit the number of people we can help. To prioritize,  we decided to focus on keeping as many families from losing their houses as we could. As a result, we give priority to those cases where we believe that we can win, i.e. keep the family in possession and reduce payments to affordable levels for the long term, not just six months or a year.

 

We are very successful in doing that in the cases we can take, but again we can't take them all, and honestly not even a small fraction of them all.  We have tried to be innovative, training volunteer attorneys to handle cases through VLSP, but even with volunteers there are not nearly enough attorneys to represent everyone who would benefit.

 

To address the problem of the need for foreclosure assistance outstripping the ability to provide it, we have been advocating at the state level for increased funding for foreclosure prevention, but sadly the state funding for this critical function will end in December because it was not included in the budget this year.  We are working hard to find additional funding and to get foreclosure prevention back in the state budget for 2011-12.

 

I would appreciate it if you could pass this information on to those who are concerned and let them know that I am happy to discuss their concerns with them.

 

 

Bryan

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Permalink Reply by Louise Wu on August 23, 2011 at 11:59am

Wow, sounds like they've really fallen on hard times.   Is Empire Justice going to stay open?  I guess the idea that they've had a policy of only working on cases they thought they can win strikes me as odd? Wouldn't regular attorneys take these cases if they thought they could win?  I thought the idea was to represent people who couldn't get a lawyer?  This case may also set an important local precedent that could alter the way foreclosures go through the courts in Rochester, thus benefitting all community members faced with this issue here?  I would think an organization like Empire Justice that puts itself forward as advocating for victims of these predators and having expertise on this issue would find involvement in Cathy Lennon's case very important?  Thanks for sending Mr. Hetherington's reply.  I'll make sure my neighbor sees it.

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Permalink Reply by Louise Wu on August 24, 2011 at 6:33am

Yeah, it's a hard call, especially since the bank and the real estate company took Cathy's house illegally.  It's actually a criminal case.  The justice department is working on that with Baum esq.'s RICO anti-racketeering case.  My neighbor always had the resources to pay for her house, but the bank and other predators involved wanted control of her assets.  She should be allowed to stay there and resume paying her mortgage.  They just won't let her.  She has a great deal of equity built up and owes little on the balance.   Everyone on our street wants her to stay there.  If the bank and the real estate company can't prove they own it, why shouldn't she stay?  That's what the supreme court is wondering now as well.

Cathy Lennon's real case versus your hypothetical eight families is also a difference between charity and advocacy.  You know the story of the people in the river?  If you notice there are all these people drowning in the river (thousands of them--there are thousands of evictions in Rochester per year), do you stand on the bank where you are and just keep fishing them out as fast as you can hoping to grab a few as the majority flow by to certain destruction, or do you go up river and see why they are falling in the river in the first place and try to stop the problem at the source?  My neighbor Cathy's case is one of those "up river at the source" type cases because it could change the way all foreclosures go through the Rochester and Monroe County courts.  That would definitely benefit your eight other hypothetical families.  Is EJ just a charity fishing a few out of the river teeming with drowning souls, or are they doing advocacy and are interested in solving the problem?  Hard for me to believe that EJ just wants to make a job for themselves fishing a few people out of the flood, and don't want to try to make true change for everyone involved? With all the work EJ has promoted themselves as doing on foreclosure, I can't believe they are not interested in arguing one of these in a higher court and potentially setting a lasting and important precedent that would help so many people?  Wouldn't that be some true progress on the issue?   I should look up their web site and annual reports and see if they are positioning themselves as social advocates?  If they are losing funding, that might be one of the problems.  People and organizations that make large donations to places like EJ want to know that it is for something lasting, not just paying salaries and buying furniture.

Cathy's case is already bringing much attention to the problem and important things are happening to stop the flood of evictions in our area because of it.  Council members, for example, are already starting to say that they don't want RPD involved in these any longer and wasting the city's resources.  So people like Judge Castro can just keep rubber stamping these sketchy foreclosures and evictions in his court, and the marshals can serve people with those papers, but if homeowners are not leaving their houses until the banks show true cause  (which they can't because they don't have any legitimate documentation after the loan bundling frauds and the collapse of Countrywide), then without our polices' co-operation, the courts and judges like Castro are going to have to rethink what they are doing.  I am completely ready for the RPD to become social heroes for not getting involved in this any more.  It would go a very long way to restoring public confidence in them.  The people in Cook County IL (Chicago) are so proud of their sheriff for doing just that.  Your eight hypothetical families might just want to stay put, hypothetically, for the moment until they see the law and the courts catch up to the large scale mortgage frauds here and around the country.  You've said you don't live in the Ward.  From where I live here, I can see that we don't need any more homeless people and empty abandoned properties.    

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