Foreclosures Cost City of Newark $56 Million!
New Jersey is faced with the second highest rate of foreclosure in the entire country and is moving in the opposite direction as the rest of the country when it comes to foreclosures, according to RealtyTrac – and for the city of Newark, new data points to an epic crisis.
On Thursday, April 18th, anti-foreclosure activists, academics, people of faith, labor leaders and Newark residents gathered at Newark City Hall to discuss the impacts of the foreclosure crisis and begin a conversation about solutions to the problem.
“Newark Homewrecker”, a new report by New Jersey Communities United, found that there were almost 7,000 foreclosures in Newark from 2008 to 2012, adding up to a cost of $56 million to the City of Newark.
“It’s as if my life, security for my family, a roof over our heads, is a game to them,” said Grace Alexander, a Newark resident struggling to save her home from foreclosure. “There are 4 generations of us living under that roof and our impending homelessness is not a game to us.”
“All of the data on foreclosures in New Jersey demonstrate that there is significant and measurable public harm to city services, city revenues and the value of property in neighborhoods hit hard by the foreclosure crisis,” said Trina Scordo, Executive Director of New Jersey Communities United. “The only way to stabilize our communities and prevent foreclosures is to take sweeping action to ensure the public good and to save the thousands of underwater homes at risk of foreclosure. This means large scale principal reduction; buying thousands of the loans at a time and resetting them to market value.”
This was the first hearing among several that will be scheduled in the City of Newark to tackle this crisis. Visit and “like” NJCU’s facebook page and sign up for email alerts if you would like to stay informed about our work fighting foreclosures. You can also read more about the hearing in our news clips.
