Apr 22, 2008 9:18 pm US/Eastern
Homeowners Seek Protection As Foreclosures Rise
FORT LAUDERDALE (CBS4) ―
More and more homeowners in South Florida are in danger of losing their homes. The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, is on a mission to fight high foreclosure rates, specifically in the South Florida area.
ACORN conducts outreach programs to find homeowners at risk of losing their homes due to predatory loans, and to organize these homeowners to fight back to save their homes.
On Tuesday, their members held demonstrations at Ft. Lauderdale's Broward County Courthouse, in Miami and Orlando to urge the Florida legislature to build on foreclosure recommendations offered by experts in the field, and to pass legislation with strong consumer protections against predatory loans.
They would like to see lenders institute a one-year moratorium on foreclosures due to predatory loans. They would also like state and federal regulators devote resources to investigate and prosecute predatory lenders. In addition, they want to encourage the state and Congress to pass legislation to protect families against predatory mortgage lending and foreclosure rescue scams.
Default Research, specializing in foreclosure statistics and listings, released the following foreclosure numbers for March 2008 for some cities in Broward and Miami-Dade counties.
In Broward, for all of 2007, there were 23,477 foreclosures; since January of 2008, there have been 12,902.
In Hollywood, there were 165 homes in foreclosure; Ft. Lauderdale, 164; Miramar, 137; Coral Springs, 132; Pembroke Pines, 132. In Dade County, there were 665 homes in foreclosure in Miami; Homestead, 119; Hialeah, 83; Miami Beach, 42.
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