The Lomond Association

The Foreclosure Prevention Partnership of the Lomond Association sponsored a meeting Thursday evening, July 26th, at the Shaker Community Building. More than a hundred people came out to hear a panel of speakers discuss foreclosure and predatory lending.

Lomond resident Zachary Schiller of Policy Matters Ohio talked about the high costs of foreclosure to cities. “Chip” Bromley, a consultant on housing and fair lending issues, discussed “Understanding Mortgage Foreclosure Trends in Shaker Heights, Ohio” (A report by Mark Duda and William C. Apgar, dated November 27, 2006, commissioned by the City of Shaker Heights) and he supplemented Duda and Apgar’s report with maps and data indicating the extent of the foreclosure crisis in Cuyahoga County. (Residents can obtain copies of the Duda-Apgar report from William Gruber of the City’s Law Dept.: william.gruber@shakeronline.com) The report shows that Lomond is one of the neighborhoods impacted by the foreclosure problem, which is growing and spreading in Cleveland’s metropolitan region. Steve Wertheim, the Director of United Way’s First Call for Help, spoke about community resources available to help prevent foreclosure and other crises. Mark Seifert of ESOP (East Side Organizing Project) discussed his organization’s work bringing reluctant lending institutions to the negotiating table in order to persuade them to improve the terms of troubled mortgages. Reverend Marvin McMickle moderated the forum and shared his personal knowledge of the suffering foreclosure causes. He put a “human face” on a problem often discussed only in economic terms. State Representative Armond Budish told the audience about the initiatives the State has taken to better protect Ohioans from bad loans and predatory lending. He also mentioned initiatives at the state level to stimulate economic growth and to reduce taxes for seniors.

There was a lively Q & A discussion following the formal remarks of the speakers. Pamphlets and materials with telephone numbers for those who might need help have been placed in the Main Library along with display boards featuring newspaper articles about foreclosure. An index of these articles is available in the library for anyone who would like to read these articles on microfilm or on-line. The Foreclosure Prevention Partnership plans to have another public meeting in September and to actively pursue measures to mitigate the problems of foreclosure in our neighborhood and in our City.

If you or anyone you know is having financial difficulties, the telephone number to dial is 211 or United Way’s First Call for Help. Counselors will direct the caller to someone who can lend assistance. “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”