St. Paul MN is seeking to establish a national working group of city attorneys "who are trying to hold lenders accountable for the accumulation of vacant and foreclosed-on homes in urban areas". 

As discussed in the following article from Pioneer Press , the idea is for the chief legal officers to share information and coordinate legal strategies that might decrease foreclosures and vacancies.

St. Paul / City goal to curtail vacant properties 

St. Paul is helping to create a national working group of city attorneys who are trying to hold lenders accountable for the accumulation of vacant and foreclosed-on homes in urban areas.

The idea is for the chief legal officers — some of whom have filed lawsuits against lenders — to share information and coordinate legal strategies that might decrease foreclosures and vacancies. A City Council resolution of support for St. Paul's participation in the working group is expected to be introduced this week.

St. Paul has seen a fourfold increase in mortgage foreclosures between 2005 and 2008, with the number growing from 503 to 2,289. Foreclosures have increased the number of vacant homes, which has hurt neighborhoods as well as property values, the city says.

"As the severity of the economic crisis becomes more apparent every day, cities can't sit on the sidelines," St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman said. "This coalition will represent millions of homeowners who are eager to see action and accountability on foreclosures and vacant buildings in their communities."

John Choi, the city attorney in St. Paul, has been appointed to co-chair the working group along with his counterpart in Baltimore, and city officials expect other municipalities to announce their involvement in the coming weeks.

In April, the city hired a lawyer from the St. Paul-based Foreclosure Relief Law Project for advice on legal strategies and sent letters to the six largest lenders

responsible for abandoned properties, including Wells Fargo and U.S. Bancorp. That led to a series of meetings with lenders that Choi described in an interview as being "productive," although he declined to provide specifics about what St. Paul wants from the banks.

"We're trying to get some agreement on what is the appropriate abatement so that when we have this vacant house, how do we get this house quickly on the market," he said. "If we have a vacant house, how do we secure this so that ... we're not encouraging people to go into the house and steal whatever assets might be in there, or to use that house for illicit kinds of behavior."

Baltimore and other cities have gone so far as to sue lenders over foreclosure properties — a step St. Paul has not taken. The working group might ultimately help coordinate a class-action lawsuit brought by cities against lenders, but Choi said such a lawsuit is not "the initial or preliminary intent of our city" in forming the working group.

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