Foreclosure workshop shows Kingswood residents how to cope

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Foreclosure workshop shows Kingswood residents how to cope

Lectures encourage neighbors to pitch in whenever possible

by Jonathan Stein | Staff Writer

E-mail this article \ Print this article

More than 50 Lanham residents received money management and budgeting tips, were warned to stay away from quick-fix loans and given advice about what to do when a neighbor vacates a home at a foreclosure workshop June 12 at Trinity Moravian Church on Good Luck Road.

The workshop, sponsored by the Kingswood Civic Association, was conducted by Edward Davis, the Fair Housing Clinic program director at the Howard University School of Law; and Bill Edelen, a code enforcement officer for the county’s Department of Environmental Resources.

In Kingswood, a neighborhood of 850 homes in Lanham, there are four vacant residences that were foreclosed within the past eight months, said Kingswood Civic Association president Hakim Muhammed.

In a wide-ranging speech, Davis touched on the importance of sticking to a budget in general, staying away from short-term payday loans, asking for outside help from county-based nonprofit housing counselors and even helping neighbors who might be struggling to make their mortgage payments.

Davis said residents can help neighbors facing foreclosure get through the tough time by offering words of support, mowing their lawns and clearing snow from sidewalks in the winter.

Some of the county-based counseling agencies include the Greater Washington Urban League, the Roots of Mankind Corporation and the Kairos Development Corporation, which provide guidance to residents having difficulty paying for their homes.

‘‘A lot of people are avoiding getting help when they get behind until they’re three months behind and they’re about to get foreclosed on,” Davis said. ‘‘And then it’s too late.”

Edelen focused his talk on the importance of residents alerting DER when homes become vacant and of any code violations related to the vacant home such as unattended lawns.

He said DER maintains a database detailing the number of vacant homes in each district throughout the county and relies on residents to let the department know about those homes that have recently been vacated.

Ron Jacobs, a Kingswood resident who lives on Nashville Road, where there are two vacant homes, said he wanted to attend the workshop as a precaution.

‘‘I’m not in that predicament right now, but you never know when something could happen,” Jacobs said.

Kingswood resident Dorothy Shackelford said she was there to learn about the resources offered by organizations within the county.

‘‘I wanted to learn what services were provided by the county to get people in foreclosure back on track,” Shackelford said.