Repo Home Begets Homelessness, Report Says

A report has been released showing that a growing number of homeless people were forced to leave their homes because of the repo home crisis.

The report “Foreclosure to homeless 2009: The forgotten victims of the subprime crisis,” has been released by several national homeless and housing organizations, including the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), the National Coalition for the Homeless, the National Health Care for the Homeless Council and the National Alliance to End Homelessness.

According to the report, about 80 percent of homeless services and advocacy groups have clients who became homeless because of the repo home crisis. Additionally, one out of five homeless services estimated that over 40 percent of their clients were forced out of their homes due to foreclosure.

The report is based on a survey of 178 homeless service providers across the country. Respondent providers were requested to provide the number of their homeless clients who lost their homes to foreclosures, coping strategies of distressed families and available services and protections provided to families evicted due to foreclosures in the local as well as state levels.

The report also studied several related factors that contributed to homelessness and foreclosures, such as costs of health care and access to legal help. It also recommended several policies that would help both renters and homeowner who are facing repo home problems. It features an appendix list of survey questions and local homeless service providers and advocacy groups that responded.

Sheila Crowley, president of NLIHC, said that the results of the survey showed that foreclosure is a major factor that pushes up the number of homeless people in the country.

Last May, about 321,480 households received default notices, filings of bank repossession and scheduled auctions, representing a 6 percent decline from the April numbers but an 18 percent rise from the May 2008 total. Data also indicated that one out of 398 homeowners received a filing of foreclosure in May.

According to industry experts, May figures was the third consecutive month where the reported total number of foreclosure filings surpassed 300,000. Bank repossessions also rose by 2 percent due to significant increases in foreclosure rates in several states, including Arizona, Nevada, Michigan, Washington, New York and Oregon.

And industry experts are expecting an increase in the number of repo home in the coming months as foreclosure moratoriums are starting to end across the country.

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