City council calling for help with foreclosures

The national foreclosure crisis has rocked Prince George's County and crept into College Park.

Now, the College Park City Council is calling on state lawmakers for help.

Last spring, the General Assembly negotiated an agreement with lenders to stop any foreclosure-related actions, fees and penalties from accruing for 60 days and also passed a law extending the foreclosure process from 15 to 150 days.

But District 1 Councilman Patrick Wojahn says the state isn't taking the most important steps it can be to fight off foreclosures. He points out that many cities, counties and states have created mandatory mortgage foreclosure mediation programs, which bring homeowners, lenders and independent counselors to the table before a property is foreclosed.

"It requires the lenders to sit down with the homeowner and try to negotiate an agreement with the homeowner to allow them to keep their house," he explained.

Last month, the city council recommended that the Maryland Municipal League take the issue of a mandatory foreclosure mediation program to state legislators.

The area of College Park and Berwyn Heights had 27 foreclosures listed in the past 18 months, according to figures from RealtyTrac, a website that tracks foreclosed properties.

Prince George's County has the highest rate of bank-owned foreclosures in the state, according to the site.

"We're definitely not the worst city off," Wojahn said. "Compared to a lot of other cities in Prince George's County, we're doing OK, but it's still a serious problem in the city."

Wojahn said a mandatory mediation program would address the problem because it would force all parties to negotiate together, when many lenders right now are saying that they simply lack the manpower.

In Indiana, judges and lawyers are being trained in foreclosure mediation. Some form of foreclosure mediation program has also been adopted in cities like Milwaukee and Providence, R.I., as well as in several states, including Connecticut, Florida, New Jersey, New York and Ohio.

The Philadelphia mediation program is considered as a model by many. Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.), for one, reported that it prevented foreclosures in 80 percent of the 552 cases it had seen as of last October.

"What is happening in Philadelphia is working," he wrote in an Oct. 2008 guest column in the Philadelphia Inquirer. "Similar programs nationwide could restore trust and stability to the housing market."

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