| City of Boston Urban Blight |
| Thursday, 14 February 2008 | |
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Following an initial report in the Boston Herald (click here), Mayor Tom Menino announced an aggressive approach to dealing with urban blight including the seizing of properties with outstanding tax liens. Subsequent reports (click here) include cooperation by mortgage servicers however as the following reports details the City is looking for additional action. Included in the reports are statements by the Mayor regarding possible consequences including revoking the licenses of mortgage companies and severe penalties. Riled mayor promises to fight blight in DorchesterA furious Mayor Thomas M. Menino yesterday vowed to clean up a “war zone” of blighted housing in Dorchester left destitute by shady lending practices and absentee mortgage companies. Menino said he is mobilizing a team of lawyers, police and inspectors to go at the problem, and wants the state’s Banking Division to bring down the hammer on corporate villains. “This is like a war zone and that should never exist in any neighborhood of Boston or anywhere in the commonwealth,” said Menino, who plans to visit the neighborhood tomorrow with a team of graffiti busters and others. Menino said he has directed Corporation Counsel William Sinnott to contact the Division of Banks about revoking the licenses of any unscrupulous mortgage companies that have let foreclosed properties turn into centers of urban decay and violent crime. “It’s the same companies all the time. It’s a bad movie,” said Menino. “These banks have to have responsibility. There’s a lot of pronouncement, but there’s no real action. We hear about it when you get streets like Hendry and Clarkson (in Dorchester). What they’ve done so far has been a failure.” Seven homes on Hendry Street have been left boarded up or empty as a result of foreclosures, among them two triple-deckers condemned by city inspectors. Those properties face the corners of Coleman and Clarkson streets, where six more properties stand boarded up and decrepit due to abandonment or foreclosure. David J. Cotney, chief operating officer at the Division of Banks, said he was contacted yesterday by the city’s Office of Consumer Affairs and Licensing about two outfits who service mortgages and conduct debt collection. “We would be very interested with any information that they can share with us,” said Cotney, who declined to name the companies. The division licenses more than 1,600 mortgage lenders and brokers, according to its Web site. “Someone will be criticizing my administration for asking to pull their licenses and freeze their assets. That’s extreme action but it’s going to take that,” Menino said. Last month, Menino met with high-level executives from nine mortgage firms - including Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, Countrywide Financial, CitiGroup Inc., Washington Mutual, HomEq Servicing and Deutsche Bank. In a follow-up letter dated Jan. 22, Menino asked the companies to provide liaisons to the city, increase loan modifications to homeowners facing foreclosure, end the eviction of tenants and maintain basic services such as snow shoveling and keeping utilities on at foreclosed properties. “This is a cancer in our neighborhood,” said Menino. “This problem existing in these streets has to cease.” To view the article in its entirety, please click here. City moves to acquire foreclosed properties Boston is moving to buy or seize several foreclosed condominiums in Dorchester in a significant expansion of the city's efforts to prevent abandoned buildings from blighting fragile neighborhoods. The problems on Hendry were the subject of a Boston Herald story Sunday. Mortgage companies have foreclosed on eight condos and houses, and four more are in the foreclosure process. The Herald reported that one abandoned home was condemned after city inspectors found it was being used and trashed by squatters. Officials say the street has quickly become a dumping ground, including for abandoned cars. Menino responded by pledging to clean the street and to help the area be redeveloped, in part by acquiring the problem properties. The city is exploring several options, including seizing the buildings for unpaid taxes. At the same time, the city is stepping up efforts to get the mortgage companies that now own foreclosed properties to take better care of them, or sell them, without government intervention. The Globe reported yesterday that Providence Mayor David Cicilline is seeking an ordinance that would fine the owners of vacant buildings 10 percent of a building's value if it remains vacant a year after receiving a warning from the city. The massive fine is intended to encourage quick sales by making it cheaper to sell at a loss than to wait for better times. Menino's office said yesterday the mayor would use the Providence ordinance as a model for one he will soon propose. Menino met with several of the largest mortgage companies last month. The meeting produced a draft agreement in which the lenders pledged to improve maintenance of foreclosed properties and promised to work with the city on selling those buildings as soon as possible. A measure filed by Councilor Robert Consalvo would require companies to pay $100 for each vacant property, provide the name of a company responsible for maintenance, and post the information on the property. To view this article in its entirety, please click here.
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