During the Summer of 2019, following increased gun violence and tragedies that took the lives of children, Mayor Eric Johnson announced the creation of the Mayor’s Task Force on Safe Communities. The Task Force receivedREAD MORE
USA Today Report on “Reverse Mortgages”
“Most issues can be traced back to faulty loan servicing with an often-revolving cast of loan companies” Similar quotes were frequent during the last foreclosure crisis. However this quote comes from a USA Today report onREAD MORE
Enactment of NYS S.5079-A/A.1859-A “Zombie Property Remediation Act of 2019”
On December 18th issued the following press release regarding his signing of the “Zombie Property Remediation Act of 2019” To view the final language, please click here. To view local reporting, please click here. NewREAD MORE
NJ S1155 VPRO Legislation Progresses
Following a March 4, 2019 referral to the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee, S1155 was reported from the Committee and given a 2nd Reading. To view the current text of the proposed bill, please clickREAD MORE
“Zombie Foreclosures” – New Federal Guidelines for “OREO”
On October 22, 2019 the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) amended the regulations and issued a final rule, effective December 1, 2019, for “other real estate owned,” activities for national banks andREAD MORE
Strong Stance Against Zombie Foreclosures
In an aggressive approach to “zombie foreclosures, at the request of Alderman James Martuscello, Amsterdam NY Common Council members unanimously voted against removing a property from the tax auction list and accepting a payoff paymentREAD MORE
Pennsylvania Restore PA Initiative Update
As previously reported, Pennsylvania Governor Wolf has taken an aggressive approach to the fight against blight. Additional information is now available on the Governor’s website. For an overview of the Combatting Blight component, please clickREAD MORE
Flint MI Recipient of a Cities of Service 2019 Engaged Cities Award
Flint MI was one of three recipients of the Cities of Service 2019 Engaged Cities Award. Underwritten by Bloomberg Philanthropies, the award recognizes cutting-edge techniques to engage residents to solve problems.Each winning city receives aREAD MORE
MA H 177 An Act relative to neighborhood stabilization and economic development
Massachusetts H 177 (and accompanying bill S 1627) originally introduced in January had hearings in October. The bill “would form a commission to study strategies for improving the quality of housing stock in weak markets,READ MORE
Urban Institute “Housing Codes Should Protect Public Health, Not Penalize Low-Income Homeowners”
Following a recent report of a resident of Cleveland Heights, Ohio, 57 and uses a wheelchair who is facing jail time because of housing code violations, Christina Plerhoples Stacy and Joseph Schilling with the Urban InstituteREAD MORE
Ohio Land Bank Lawsuit….Sorry, but your math is wrong
Along with vacant property registration ordinances, Land Banks are one of the more widely used tools in the fight against blight. Now, class action lawsuit have been filed by former Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann,READ MORE
New York State A07190 LLC Ownership Information Disclosure
In New York State, A07190 was signed by the Governor on September 13th. As New York State Assemblyman John T. McDonald III writes in The TimesUnion this bill is “an important tool in fighting blightREAD MORE