Council continuing to work with County and City departments to combat predatory lending and the foreclosure epidemic:

Cleveland City Council’s Community and Economic Development and Public Service Committees held a joint hearing on Tuesday, May 29, 2007 to learn more about the procedure for identifying and processing tax delinquent properties for the City LandBank under new regulations set forth in the H.B. 294 foreclosure option.  

H.B. 294, passed by the Ohio Legislature in 2006, reduces the amount of time it takes to designate delinquent vacant lands subject to judicial foreclosure by approximately nine months and cuts the entire process of foreclosing a home by up to a year.   The House Bill also allows direct transfers of vacant and abandoned properties, including residential and commercial parcels, to community development corporations, cities and townships.    

Representatives from the County Treasurer's Office, the County Prosecutor's Office, and the Cleveland Department of Community Development addressed the joint committee and proposed that collective work is necessary to combat this issue.   

The Offices present at the meeting reported progress on the establishment of a GIS system to track foreclosed properties.   The presenters also urged the committees to educate residents about predatory lending and to promote the Cuyahoga County First Help Line which can be reached by dialing 211.

“We hope that H.B. 294 will help reduce the amount of vacant and abandoned properties and move towards redeveloping the city,” said Councilman Anthony Brancatelli, Vice Chair of the Community and Economic Development Committee.   “Cleveland City Council will be working closely with the County Treasurer's Office, the County Prosecutor's Office, the Cleveland Department of Community Development, and the Administration to battle this problem in the area head on.”