Evictions Follow Philadelphia Foreclosed Home Auctions
The city of Philadelphia is being looked upon by other cities as a model for its foreclosure prevention program, but despite the city’s esteemed efforts, it has not prevented the rise in evictions that resulted from recent foreclosed home auctions.
According to the Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Wanda Davis, the number of evictions already carried out increased from 47 units in the first month of the year to 107 units in April.
Davis also added that she is concerned about the foreclosure sales and the evictions because the Sheriff’s Office has already carried out 49 evictions during the first weeks of June alone.
Davis said she has no data on renters evicted from properties sold at foreclosed home auctions, but she has observed that a rising number of tenants are being evicted. She added that evictions of renters are being carried out by the Municipal Landlord Tenant Court, and not the Sheriff’s Office.
According to Ian Phillips, a top executive of the national grassroots organization Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now which is helping Philadelphia in its foreclosure prevention program, the increase in evictions could have resulted from foreclosure actions filed before the implementation of the ACORN-backed program.
Also, some foreclosure filings moved on to foreclosed home auctions after the expiration of foreclosure moratoriums that were launched as the Obama administration was working out the details of its Making Home Affordable program.
The Philadelphia Sheriff’s Office put in place its own moratorium on foreclosure auctions from April to October in 2008 while the city was working out and putting in place its foreclosure prevention program together with ACORN.
The ACORN-backed program focuses on court-supervised mandatory mediation between the mortgage lender and the borrower and makes use of the services of HUD-certified housing counselors and volunteers who go around the community to reach out to distressed homeowners.
The Sheriff’s Office usually conducts its foreclosed home auctions 5 to 6 months following the Courtroom of Common Pleas’ approval of the foreclosure suit filed against the defaulting borrower.
ACORN executive Phillips explained that evictions are typically carried out 2 to 3 months after properties are sold at the sheriff’s foreclosed home auctions.
Notwithstanding the evictions, Phillips argued that the number of evictions is small compared to the 200 to 300 mediation conferences being conducted every week at the city’s Court of Common Pleas, resulting in hundreds of homes saved from foreclosed home auctions.
