Newark Homeowners Urged to Learn How to Stop Unfair Foreclosures
“Last June in a guest op-ed for the Star Ledger I reported on Newark Mayor Ras Baraka’s commitment to help an estimated 1,000 families to save their homes from foreclosure. He could do this by using the city’s eminent domain authority to protect homeowners trapped in underwater mortgages, where their payment balances are higher than the fair market value of the property. These Newark homeowners were victims of toxic mortgages peddled by lenders that led to the housing bubble and the Great Recession.
Under Baraka’s plan the city would use its eminent domain powers to seize toxic mortgages and then re-package them at fair market value at terms homeowners can afford.
Today’s post is a follow up to that story.
In preparation for the roll out of the program, NJ Communities United is mobilizing homeowners to attend a community workshop to educate the public why using eminent domain is a necessary tool in the fight against the foreclosure crisis, who could potentially qualify for the program and what homeowners can do to move the policy forward.
What: Community Workshop: Eminent Domain for Mortgage Principal Reduction
When: Saturday, November 15th from 10 am to 12 noon
Where: Pleasant Grove Baptist Church, 198 Chadwick Ave, Newark, NJ 07108”
Atlas, John. NJ.com 12 November 2014.