Take Root Denver
August 18th, 2010
As discussed in the Denver Business Journal, the city of Denver and Freddie Mac partnered to launch Take Root Denver, a program that promotes home ownership and foreclosure prevention.
Denver, Freddie Mac partner to promote home ownership
The City and County of Denver on Tuesday launched a new housing campaign called Take Root Denver, and is one of the first U.S. cities to offer the program.
The initiative, sponsored by Freddie Mac and the Denver Office of Economic Development, promotes home ownership in the city and works to prevent foreclosures. Its aim is to “help you purchase and keep your new home,” according to its website, www.takerootdenver.org.
“Take Root Denver is a one-stop resource for individuals to get advice and help from trusted organizations on many topics, such as foreclosure prevention, loan modifications and buying a house,” Dwight Robinson, a Freddie Mac senior vice president, said in a statement.
Take Root Denver also offers a directory of for-sale homes the city has refurbished.
Other metro-area groups participating in the program include the Denver Urban Renewal Authority, Habitat for Humanity Metro Denver and Del Norte Neighborhood Development Corp.
Freddie Mac is the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. (OTCBB: FMCKN.OB) of McLean, Va., a government-sponsored enterprise that buys mortgages on the secondary market, pools them and sells them as mortgage-backed securities to investors.
Freddie Mac and competitor Fannie Mae — the Federal National Mortgage Association (OTCBB: FNMA.OB) of Washington — have had big problems during the economic downturn. They were seized by U.S. regulators in fall 2008, as rising loan delinquencies and property foreclosures brought them close to collapse. The two groups have borrowed roughly $137 billion from the U.S. Treasury since 2008 to keep operating, and Freddie Mac recently asked for another $10.6 billion.
Federal lawmakers are looking at what to do with Freddie and Fannie, including possibly disbanding the groups and replacing them with a new entity or splitting them into separate pieces.
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About Safeguard
Safeguard Properties is the largest privately held field services company in the country. Located in Cleveland, Ohio and founded in 1990 by Robert Klein, Safeguard has grown from a regional preservation company with a few employees and a handful of contractors performing services in the Midwest, to a national company with approximately 800 employees. Safeguard is supported by a nationwide network of subcontractors able to perform any requested superintendence, preservation, and maintenance functions, as well as numerous ancillary services in the U.S., the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico.