Profitwise News and Views

May 2004 Issue
Special Edition

• Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago Home Ownership Preservation Initiative


• Remarks by Michael H. Moskow, President and CEO, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago


• Remarks by Richard M. Daley, Mayor, City of Chicago


• Alicia Williams, Vice President, Consumer and Community Affairs, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago


• John G. Markowski, Commissioner, City of Chicago, Department of Housing


• Bruce Gottschall, Executive Director, Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago


• Bruce Paradis, President and Chief Executive Officer, GMAC-RFC


• Steve Paton, Vice President, Chase Manhattan Mortgage Corporation


• Richard Monocchio, First Deputy Commissioner, City of Chicago, Department of Housing


• Conclusion


• Neighborhood Housing Services Programs


• May 2004 Issue, Special Edition (PDF,137KB)

Conclusion

Neighborhhod Housing Services of Chicago is approaching 30 years of successful neighborhood redevelopment. The HOPI initiatives is the latest in a series of more recent, successful NHS initiatives that have positively impacted redeveloping or troubled Chicago neighborhoods and their residents. Beginning with the Foreclosure Intervention Program (FIP) introduced at the Fed in October 1997, NHS launched an innovative and comprehensize initiative to prevent foreclosure in targeted Chicago communities. With the rise of predatory mortgage lending, NHS introduced the Neighborhood Ownership Recovery Mortgage Assistance Loan program, providing counseling, loan workouts and legal assistance for victims of predatory lending. HOPI adds a new dimension, engaging the investment community in a broader effort to stem foreclosure, but also to bring unavoidably foreclosured homes back to market as soon as possible. The Fed's Consumer and Community Affairs division has worked with NHS as a committed partner, and will continue to document and support the efforts of NHS in this critical work.

For more information on HOPI initiative or other NHS programs, call NHS at (773) 329-4010, or visit their web site at http://www.nhschicago.org. For past NHS articles, see Profitwise Winter 2003 Issue (PDF,648KB)

Notes

¹ The 311 Center formally opened on March 11, 2004.

² After 90 days of non-payment, a lender will typically begin foreclosure proceedings. In some cases the homeowner does not ultimately lose the home. By seeking assistance from NHS or other organizations able to intercede on their behalf, they can obtain counseling, financial aid and if necessary legal assistance. Foreclosure is a costly, inefficient process, and it is in the interest of both borrower and lender to avoid it.

³ REO property is real estate that is currently owned by HUD or financial institutions after foreclosure.

⁴ The growing secondary market for subprime mortgages has created opportunities for borrowers with blemished credit to access mortgage financing. To the extent that some mortgage-originating intermediaries have been overly aggressive in marketing to low- and moderate-income communities, and underwriting borrowers with limited ability to repay, the foreclosure rate and negative impact in those communities has been significant.

Resources

Neighborhood Housing Services www.nhschicago.org

City of Chicago, Department of Housing www.cityofchicago.org/housing

Gorey, Rochelle Nawrocki, and Mary Fran Riley. Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago: Making a Difference In Chicago Neighborhoods, Profitwise, Winter 2003, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. This publication may be accessed at www.chicagofed.org/community_development/profitwise_news_and_views.cfm

Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies at www.jchs.harvard.edu

Kathleen Toledano and Michael V. Berry summarized the conference sessions.

Kathleen Toledano is a community development analyst in the Consumer and Community Affairs division, Emerging Consumer and Compliance Issues unit of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. She is also the assistant editor of Profitwise News and Views. Ms. Toledano is on the board of Amicus, the Fed's employee volunteer association. She has been a member of Amicus since joining the bank in 1997. Ms. Toledano studies community development issues and speaks on emerging consumer issues for the Fed. Ms. Toledano holds a B.A. in anthropology from the University of Illinois Chicago, and attended postgraduate studies at the University of Pittsburgh.

Michael V. Berry joined the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago's Consumer and Community Affairs division in December 1995 as a researcher and program manager. He is currently the manager of the Emerging Consumer and Compliance Issues Unit. Mr. Berry is also the managing editor of (and a frequent contributor to) the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago's Profitwise News and Views publication. Mr. Berry is a director of the Regional Redevelopment Corporation, a nonprofit housing development organization formed in 1992. Mr. Berry holds a B.A. in Political Science from Susquehanna University and an M.B.A. from DePaul University.