City sets up counseling for locals facing foreclosure

REVERE – Mayor Thomas Ambrosino has signed the city up for a $5,000 pilot program to counsel local homeowners caught up in the home foreclosure crisis.He signed a three-month agreement with Chelsea Restoration Corporation to help homeowners who are unable to afford escalating monthly mortgage payments.”For some time, the city has been seeking a means to assist Revere families caught up in this crisis. Many times, struggling homeowners might be able to salvage their home if they are given proper advice and assistance in negotiating with their lender,” the mayor wrote in a letter to City Council members.Chelsea Restoration claims 358 Revere homes are currently in foreclosure with mortgage lenders threatening to take the properties away from their ownersThe agency sent Ambrosino a letter last December indicating that 1,147 other homeowners are on the brink of seeing their low introductory mortgage rate escalate.”Homeowners in crisis require intensive one-on-one sessions with counselors devoting time and expertise to navigate through myriad public initiatives and provide funding options,” Chelsea Restoration stated in a letter it sent Dec. 12 to Ambrosino.The city’s response to foreclosures reflects the severity of a statewide and national problem. Massachusetts continues to see rising foreclosure petitions, a first step that often leads to owners losing their homes.Petitions during December rose 28 percent from the same month a year ago to about 2,700. That total is up slightly from November of last year.President Bush and aspirants to his office have proposed plans to lessen the crisis and help the homeowners already immersed in it.Homeowners threatened with foreclosure would in some instances get a 30-day reprieve under an initiative the Bush administration announced last week.Under the new program, six of the nation’s largest financial institutions said they will begin contacting homeowners who are 90 or more days overdue on their monthly mortgage payments. The homeowners will be given the opportunity to put the foreclosure process on pause for 30 days while the lenders look for a way to make the mortgage more affordable.The new program will be available to the holders of all types of mortgages, from prime to subprime, and represents a widening of an initiative announced by President Bush in December that offers a freeze on subprime mortgage rates that are scheduled to reset to sharply higher rates for borrowers who qualify for the assistance.Critics attacked the proposal as far short of what is needed to resolve a serious financial crisis that is threatening millions of families with the loss of their homes.”A month long moratorium on mortgage foreclosure is like a Band-Aid when the patient really needs surgery,” said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney.