Kalamazoo County home foreclosures worsen; Local agencies strategize how to help

Kalamazoo Foreclosures have continued to rise in Kalamazoo County as many residents cannot pay their taxes or mortgages. A meeting scheduled 6pm next week at the Douglas Community Center will highlight free foreclosure counseling services, hardship exemptions and payment plans for city and county property taxes, legal aid and a program to return foreclosed properties to private ownership.

This particular meeting focuses on prevention,” said Kristen Ramer, outreach and operations coordinator for the Kalamazoo County Land Bank. “We want to see people maintain home ownership.”

Last month, 266 homes were in some stage of mortgage foreclosure in Kalamazoo County, a 20 percent increase over August 2009, according to California-based RealtyTrac Inc. Meanwhile, foreclosures dropped year over year by at least 24 percent in Allegan, St. Joseph and Van Buren counties.

And so far this year, about 1,800 properties in Kalamazoo County face tax foreclosure, Ramer said. That’s up from about 1,500 properties at this time last year, she said.

“It’s been increasing by almost 100 percent a year for the last three years,” she said of the number of people unable to pay their property tax bills.

There is help available for people facing foreclosure, and homeowners don’t have to pay for the service, said Larry Winling, foreclosure counselor for Kalamazoo Neighborhood Housing Services Inc. Winling will provide information Tuesday on the federally funded agency’s free services.

“We know there are more people hurting and in need (of foreclosure help) than we’re seeing,” Winling said. “We do the foreclosure prevention counseling free of charge. We’ll work with them to get some relief from their lender.”

The Poverty Reduction Initiative and the Affordable Housing Partnership will be diving in depth on this issue for the 2009-2010 video on homelessness in Kalamazoo. The video will talk about what programs exist to prevent foreclosure and eviction in Kalamazoo.

For more information on the meeting:

Foreclosure meeting
What: “Foreclosure Prevention and Outreach Forum,” a free informational meeting on help that’s available in the community to keep people from losing their homes.
Where: Northside Association for Community Development, 612 N. Park St., Kalamazoo. When: 6-7:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Sponsors: Northside Association for Community Development, Kalamazoo County Treasurer’s office, city of Kalamazoo, and the Kalamazoo County Land Bank.

Read the full article at: http://www.mlive.com/business/west-michigan/index.ssf/2010/09/kalamazoo_county_home_foreclos.html