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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (June 8, 2012)
street roots 7 June 8, 2012 HOLD 'E M , fro m page 1 Affordable Housing Trust Fund. The rest went into the state’s cash reserves. The legislature in Virginia is proposing using the bulk of it s $66 million settlement allocation to offset reductions in state aid to local governments, and cover a 3 percent pay raise for state employees. In Georgia, according to the report, none of the $99 million of its settlement was allocated for housing. All of it went into two programs that distributes grants for economic development across the state. In South Carolina, House Republicans voted to give all of its $31 million to the state’s Commerce Department to create incentives for companies to relocate to there; Democrats want some money used for foreclosure assistance programs. The attorney general there is calling for the money to be used for shelters for battered women and homeless veterans. Wisconsin applied $26 million of its $30 million in settlement funds to plug it’s budget hole, with the rest allocated to investigate mortgage fraud. Likewise, Utah lawmakers voted to keep the bulk of its settlement in its general fund, allocating less than $4 million out of $22 million for homeless and mortgage fraud programs. Those states that have committed to housing programs have applied the funds toward mediation services, like Oregon, down payment assistance and Legal Aid programs. In Oregon, there are strong opinions about how the money should be spent, and what programs it should be spent on. Some view the $7.6 million allocation as tepid and are wary of support on the part of lawmakers for a new and untested statewide program. “Everyone is being cautious and conservative because there are a lot of unknowns,” Martin says. It’s not yet clear, she says, exactly how the mediation program is going to work, or how many people will participate in it. Ben Pray is the policy advisor and communications manager with the Oregon Housing and Community Services, which manages state housing funds and will operate the mediation program. OHCS intends to have the mediation program up and running by mid-July. But Pray says he does not expect the program to be fully operational and robust until this fall. The Emergency Board’s allocation of the settlement dollars will pay for the mediation program for the next three years. Advocates expect that the program will not need continued funding from settlement funds after that. One of the law’s provisions creates a funding stream for the mediation program by collecting a $100 fee when a notice of default on mortgage payments is filed. The collected fees are expected to make the program self-sufficient within a few years. (The total cost of mediation services is $400 for each homeowner, who will pay half the cost). Critical to ensuring that people participate in the mediation * program, advocates say, is an effective outreach campaign that can reach out to as many homeowners as possible. An effective outreach program, Martin and Byrd say, would include canvassers going door to door to reach homeowners, phone banking, community forums, and other activities to reach as many homeowners as possible before it is too late to prevent their foreclosure from happening. The Emergency Board allocated $450,000 for outreach efforts. The original request was double that number — $900,000. Martin credits the reduction with a sour taste left in the mouths of legislators from prior, unsuccessful outreach efforts. Effectively convincing homeowners to participate in mediation and helping them overcome “five years of learned distrust for coffee bean IN T E R N A T IO N A L 8 We tip our mugs to Coffee Bean International for donating coffee to Street Roots and keeping our vendors warm in the morning! Thank you! M tes Canning jars & equipment, cookware, kitchen tools & appliances ir a d o r COMMUNITY SO R E^ fell to Organic cotton sheets, towels, & blankets N atural Kitchen & Home Food dryers 2 1 0 6 SE Division Books on meat-free cooking, gardening & sustainability 503«231*5175 m irad o rco m m u n ity sto re.co m M o n -S at 10-6 • Sun 11-5 k Z? <3A rn r foreclosure relief,” she says, will be an uphill “That is still something up for battle. discussion,” Pray says. Also critical to the mediation program’s “None of those ideas have been success is how knowledgeable homeowners thoroughly vetted,” among advocates or will be about their other groups, Byrd situation, and how says. ready they will be to “It’s up to us to go to bat with their convince legislators,” 1» Oregon, there are strong lender. That, Pray and opinions about how the Byrd says. others say, is where Martin admits it’s money should he spent, and tempting housing counselors to provide what programs it should be come in — people, direct assistance to certified by the homeowners. But spent on. Some view the federal government’s she also says the $7.6 million allocation as Housing and Urban money would not go tepid and are wary of Development as far as creating a support on the part ol department, that program that can typically work for non lawmakers lor a new and help many, with long profit agencies and sit term impacts. “Do untested statewide program. down with you help 30 families, homeowners one-on- or do you help one to talk about the everyone?” she says. homeowner’s particular situation, and what Martin also hopes that the Legislature options are available to them. They can also will continue using the settlement dollars to help homeowners fill out paperwork and do fund foreclosure prevention programs. If the whatever else to prepare them for a $7.6 million is all that will be spent, it’s “not mediation session with the bank. what I would call sufficient,” she says. “It’s not the easiest system for people to “Oregon would be in the column of ‘didn’t navigate on their own,” Byrd says, speaking do a great job.’” to the critical role counselors can play. But there’s another pot of money that Currently, there are approximately 20 could be used for direct assistance — almost housing counselors in the entire state. $180 million left from the Troubled Asset Eastern and rural parts of Oregon don’t Relief Program (TARP) bailout in late 2009. have any. “The demand for those services is According to Pray, that money is earmarked high,” Pray says. “It can be a month before for direct assistance to homeowners. you can talk to someone.” And there’s yet a third large amount of money that has gotten even less attention. Pray says the Oregon Community and Housing Services department expects to at As part of the national mortgage settlement least double the number of housing agreement, Oregon loan services have access to $250 million dollars that can be counselors with the Emergency Board’s used for direct assistance to homeowners. allocation. But, Pray says, that money is in the hands A question still unanswered is how much of the five major banks, which get to decide of the remaining settlement money will be how and when the money is spent. used to directly assist homeowners — help “That money is a little nebulous right now them pay back payments, reduce their about how it’s going to work,” Pray says. principal balance, or other direct forms of “It’s to be determined.” financial assistance. good, local, food. ALBERTA COOPERATIVE GROCERY 1500 NE Alberta St. Portland, OR 97211 503.287.4333 www.albertagrocery.coop open to everyone 9-10 daily am & w , A Juicers This m an works. So does Street Roots. 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