INC NEWS - Durham Launches Foreclosure Prevention Campaign June 26

[Blalock, Amy]

CITY OF DURHAM

Office of Public Affairs

101 City Hall Plaza

Durham, NC 27701

 

 

News Release

 

For Details, Contact:

Amy C. Blalock

Senior Public Affairs Specialist

(919) 560-4123 x 253

(919) 475-7735 (cell)

Amy.Blalock at durhamnc.gov <mailto:Amy.Blalock at durhamnc.gov> 

 

For Immediate Release:  June 24, 2008

 

Durham Launches Campaign to Prevent Home Foreclosures June 26

10 a.m. News Conference Immediately Followed by Roundtable Discussion

 

Durham, N.C. - Tony and Mary Garrett were facing foreclosure and the
loss of their home thanks to a high-cost subprime loan.  With assistance
by a nonprofit counseling agency and early intervention, the loan was
modified and the couple's home was saved.  

 

Unfortunately, their happy ending is not the case for many Durham
residents facing home foreclosure.  According to the North Carolina
Administration of Courts, there have been 729 foreclosures in Durham
between January 1, 2008 and May 31, 2008.  In response to this national
crisis that is hitting home in Durham, the City of Durham's Departments
of Neighborhood Improvement Services and Community Development along
with the Neighborhood Pride Alliance are launching a public education
campaign to encourage homeowners in financial trouble to seek assistance
early.  

 

The kick-off event, featuring the Garrett Family, will begin with a news
conference on Thursday, June 26, 2008, at 10 a.m. at the Durham
Association of REALTORS(r), located at 4236 University Drive, Durham.
Immediately following the news conference, leaders from Durham City and
County government, neighborhoods, nonprofits, local and federal
agencies, banks, realtors, and homebuilders will participate in a
roundtable to discuss the impact of foreclosures on neighborhoods, the
causes, remedies for borrowers, and preventative policy responses.  The
roundtable will be facilitated by Peter Skillern, executive director of
Community Reinvestment Association of North Carolina and co-author of
Empty Houses and Broken Dreams, an analysis of the impact of
foreclosures one Durham neighborhood.

 

Participants in Thursday's roundtable include Durham City Councilman
Farad Ali, Durham County Commissioner Chairwoman Ellen Reckhow, as well
as representatives from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development, Neighborhood Pride Alliance, N.C. Housing Finance Office,
SunTrust Bank, N.C. Association of Community Organizations for Reform
Now (ACORN), Durham Regional Association of Realtors, City's Department
of Neighborhood Improvement Services, N.C. Realtors Association, Durham
Regional Community Development Group, Home Builders Association of
Durham, Orange and Chatham Counties and the City's Department of
Community Development.   

 

According to Martha McNair, a real estate broker, financial advisor and
a member of the Neighborhood Pride Alliance, addressing Durham's
foreclosure situation is a must to help homeowners in financial crisis.
"Our market has seen a significant rise in foreclosures.  Soaring fuel
prices, job losses and instability have caused many of our residents to
find themselves trapped in the foreclosure process," McNair said.  "This
roundtable will kick off a series of events in the coming months to
bring immediate and urgent attention to the dire need for consumer
education.  Understanding credit, formulating budgets and general money
management practices are integral to pulling our nation out of this
crisis."

 

Glyndola Beasley, executive director for Durham Regional Community
Development Group and a member of the Neighborhood Pride Alliance,
believes that helping homeowners ultimately helps the entire Durham
community.  "We're reviewing original loan documents and they reveal
that many homeowners were set up for failure from the beginning,"
Beasley said.  "Not since the Great Depression have we seen this scale
of huge, impending home foreclosures and as the problem grows, new
strains are placed on our national and local economies, which are
already strapped financial systems." 

 

For more information about Thursday's event, contact Cynthia
Mebane-Watts, community relations coordinator with the City's Department
of Neighborhood Improvements Services, at (919) 560-4570 or via e-mail
at cynthia.mebane-watts at durhamnc.gov. 

 

About the Neighborhood Pride Alliance

Approximately one year ago, the City's Department of Neighborhood
Improvement Services formed a task force to address various community
issues facing Durham.  As a result, the Targeted Neighborhood
Revitalization Task Force was created to focus on three areas within
Durham - North East Central Durham, South West Central Durham and the
Southside/St. Theresa area.  The task force selected as its name
"Neighborhood Pride Alliance."  The Neighborhood Pride Alliance has
three standing committees:  Preservation, Education, and Development,
Resource and Investment.  Each one of these standing committees has
chosen special projects to address in the Durham community.  The
Education Committee has selected as its first project to address home
foreclosure increases in Durham.  

 

About the Department of Neighborhood Improvement Services

The Department of Neighborhood Improvement Services is dedicated to
improving the quality of life for Durham's residents by increasing
access to safe, livable housing and by improving the city's physical
environment.  For more information, visit the City's Web site at 
www.durhamnc.gov/departments/nis.

 

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