There Is No Societal Support for Foreclosure Victims Residing in the Suburbs of Suburbs

Posted on March 25, 2009
Filed Under Sub Prime | 3 Comments

For those living in the outer-edge or the suburbs of the suburbs there is no societal support for foreclosure victims. John K. McIlwain of Urban Land Institute of Washington noted, “In the outer-edge suburbs, there are no nonprofits. Charitable support is much weaker. We’re likely to see outer-edge ghettos with higher home-vacancy rates for quite some time.”

Researchers are painstakingly at work but no one can detail how many have lost their homes but cannot find social services that they desperately need. McIlwain added, “I think it is happening, and it’s happening around the country — and it’s a brand-new phenomenon.”The chances of extending the help line to the front lines of this foreclosure crisis are slim. In these areas more than a third of the houses have been foreclosed upon. Collection of local taxes have dramatically gone down at that critical point when help for the local government is most badly needed.

One of the worst affected areas are in the outer edges of Metro Orlando. In recent years many units had been built on land that were once flourishing orange groves. This had tempted truck driver James Wentworth to buy a brand new house having a front porch and three bedrooms for $230,000. He shared the bills with his roommate Sal La Sardo who worked as a computer instructor and debt collector. Today, three years after the enthusiastic purchase of the house all that can be seen are few potted plants. The house remains dark and the yard covered with weeds. Other homes like Wentworth’s are begging to be sold for half their purchase price. Wentworth’s unit will go up for auction on 2nd April. The one next to his has been lying vacant for quite some time – desolate, vandalized and unsold.

It was the decision of Wentworth and Sardo to opt for a sub-prime mortgage that led to their undoing. The mortgage payments spiked to $1,400 from $765 within the span of three years. Added to this, health and job problems compounded their woes.

The two made mistakes but they are not alone – thousands had scrambled on to the leaking boat. The shelters are choc-a-bloc with people who claim that they never dreamt or thought that this would happen to them.

The inter-connection between foreclosures and homelessness became clear in 2008 when a study revealed that 61% of the agencies running homeless shelters showed a sizeable rise of occupants in the shelter since the onset of the foreclosure crisis in 2007.

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