by Caroline Gabsewics
Staff Writer
Duval County is one of the worst counties in the U.S. when it comes to foreclosures.
Last Monday, a group of City officials, attorneys and the Chief Financial Officer of Florida, Alex Sink, held a round table discussion at Jacksonville Area Legal Aid (JALA) about that foreclosure crisis, hitting on issues from the effects of foreclosure to possible solutions.
“People are losing their homes by the thousands every year,” said Michael Figgins, executive director of JALA.
In 2005, Jacksonville Community Council Inc. (JCCI) conducted a race-related study, and results showed that Duval County is number one in the country in subprime loans for minorities, he said.
Through October 2007, Figgins said there were 5,000 foreclosures in Duval County, with 600 families evicted from their homes every month.
Figgins added that for every foreclosed home, it costs the City of Jacksonville $30,000.
Two major effects of foreclosures are increased crime and depressed property values.
“I have seen many downturns in Florida before,” said Sink. “This time it is really different, because of this thing called the subprime market. There has never been a subprime market of this size.”
Sink explained that since the housing market has crashed, homeowners got sucked into thinking they could afford their own home. One of the main issues is that prospective homeowners’ incomes have been overstated.
“It has gotten out of hand, and Jacksonville is one of the hardest hit in Florida,” said Sink. “Foreclosures not only have an impact on that family who is losing their house, but also on the remaining families that are living in the neighborhood.”
Sink offered some solutions on how to help Duval County’s foreclosure crisis, adding that this is not only a local problem, but a national problem as well.
“First we need to take a look at the issue of mortgage fraud,” she said. “Secondly, we need to educate Floridians about the financing decisions they are making.
“We can’t rescue people, but we can help mitigate the issues.”
JALA is one of the more successful legal service organizations when it comes to fighting home foreclosures — with a 100 percent success rate, said Figgins.
But at the same time, JALA is forced to turn away 75 percent of qualified homeowners who are facing foreclosure because it doesn’t have enough people on staff to help everyone. Figgins said his staff has saved 300 homes.
Currently, there are three people on staff that are dedicated to foreclosures and one dedicated to bankruptcy law.
“There is great success to be made,” said April Charney, an attorney at JALA who has been on the front lines when it comes to fighting against foreclosures. “I have some foreclosures that are four years old.
“I have been tracking this for the past four years, and to me this was long and coming. Right now all we can do is educate people.”
Some solutions that were offered from the round table included a statewide foreclosure moratorium. Another solution was to take the “We Buy Ugly Houses” ad off the buses and use that and billboards to help educate people about where people can go to seek help.
Dan Sumner, an attorney with the Florida Department of Insurance, said the people in Jacksonville are very fortunate to have people like Charney.
“You have the talent here to build upon,” Sumner said about Charney and JALA. “With the success of April and her team, you can expand and build on that to meet your needs. You have a championship core right here.”
Sink added that she is going to look at the feasibility of having a moratorium, because it is being done in other states like Ohio.
“On the local level, you can think of a way to put together a foreclosure action team,” said Sink. “Invest in it for a year and measure the results.”