CDC looks to help homeowners out with preforeclosure clinic

By Owen Boss

GARDNER — For local homeowners looking for information about how to avoid foreclosure, the Greater Gardner Community Development Corp., in collaboration with the Twin Cities Community Development Corp. and the Massachusetts NeighborWorks Home Ownership Center is offering a free preforeclosure clinic at their Central Street office this Thursday. The clinic will be designed to identify the causes of delinquency, cover possible financial solutions, including refinancing, loan modifications, repayment agreements, short sales and deed-in-lieu, provide assistance with House of Peace and Education hotline inquiries and discuss special assistance programs that are available, including the RAFT program and the MassHousing Home Saver program. CDC Executive Director James Cruickshank said the clinic will offer general information to local homeowners facing foreclosure, but the advice will have to be personalized because every homeowner’s situation is different. “Every one of these homeowners have a very unique situation,” said Mr. Cruickshank. “We’re asking them to bring their own personal information to the clinic, but what this is is a first step in setting up individual one-on-one counseling with these homeowners.” Following the homeowner’s visit to the clinic, housing counselors will then schedule individual counseling opportunities and will assist in the creation of a monthly budget that will establish goals to prevent further delinquency. According to Mr. Cruickshank, over the past several months the number of reported foreclosures in the region has been steadily increasing, and this clinic is the corporation’s way of providing support to those that need it in the community. “I went online and looked at our service area, and of the six municipalities we serve there were 95 recorded foreclosures in the past six months,” said Mr. Cruickshank. “That is higher than usual, I mean this impacts us, it impacts families and this really is a huge deal.” Laurel Miller, director of homeownership for the Twin Cities CDC, said that since the program originated in Fitchburg earlier this spring, the number of people utilizing the program has risen substantially. “We started offering these sessions in the spring and they seem to be getting larger and larger,” said Ms. Miller. “We have each of the clients come in and work on their current budget to see where we can cut some things to work on arranging some kind of payment option with one of the lenders.” Although there have been more home foreclosures than usual in the last few months, Ms. Miller said some statistics suggest that the current foreclosure crisis is at its peak, and can be expected to lessen in the coming months. “We are seeing the high point of the crisis at the moment,” said Ms. Miller. “Statistically what they are saying is going to happen is that this quarter and the next quarter (foreclosures) are going to be high, but will subside a bit.” All interested residents are invited to attend the session Thursday from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Greater Gardner CDC location at 246 Central St. in Gardner. To register, call 888-978-6261. oboss@thegardnernews.com

Appeared on Page 1 on 8/26/2008 (Vol. 206 No. 202)