by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
City Council member Jack Webb calls the foreclosure crisis in Jacksonville a “tsunami” waiting to happen and, together with fellow Council member Glorious Johnson, he’s in the process of trying to secure extra funding for Jacksonville Area Legal Aid to hire another attorney to handle foreclosure cases. Unless the foreclose wave is stemmed, Webb is certain its economic ramifications will affect all of Jacksonville.
Ironically, Webb — an attorney — has been on the other side of the issue. In his early days as a lawyer, Webb said he “lived on the dark side” negotiating home loans on behalf of mortgage companies. That experience combined with his duty as an elected official could bode well as the City tries everything budgetarily possible to keep as many Jacksonville residents in homes as possible. Webb and Johnson surmise that one of the ways that’s possible is to help JALA secure an extra $100,000 in funding to go with the nearly $200,000 Council approved during the 2007-08 budget hearings.
“They (JALA) need another lawyer,” said Johnson during a Monday meeting with Webb.
The two have agreed to co-sponsor a bill and asked Peggy Sidman of the Office of General Counsel to craft the legislation.
Michael Figgins, JALA executive director, said the $100,000 will assure JALA is able to keep some from losing their homes.
“Clearly it will help,” said Figgins. “Even beyond the recognition, this shows two things: one, there’s a serious problem in the community and, two, JALA is probably the solution to that problem.”
According to Figgins, nearly 6,000 people had their homes foreclosed on last year. He expects that number to rise closer to 7,000 this year. And, said Figgins, many of them are not low-income earners with below average credit ratings.
“We are seeing more and more prime mortgages going into foreclosure,” he said. “These are people with good credit and good jobs who have lost their job or have other expenses.”
Johnson said the foreclosure problem has affected her personally. Johnson relayed a story about a house next door to her. The older lady who owned it passed away and the grandson stopped making the mortgage payments. Johnson said homeless and prostitutes started inhabiting the house and even began tearing the siding off to sell it and make money.
“I had to have it torn down,” said Johnson. “Now, the son is paying taxes on an empty lot. I am trying to buy it, but he won’t sell it to me. This (helping JALA) is something we need to do because our job is to serve the people.”
Johnson, like Webb, is convinced that unless the foreclosure issue is addressed in a significant manner, the economic outlook for the area is bleak.
“If we don’t do something, however small, we are going to end up in a bust,” she said. “The way to save these homes is to educate people on how to save their homes. This is an economic problem in the community. I want to save these homes and not contribute to the blight.”