Hoping to obtain advice on how to improve government foreclosure prevention
programs, the Department of Treasury's Assistant
Secretary for Financial Stability, Herb Allison, made an unprecedented stop
in Cleveland on Monday to hold a roundtable and hear from local homeowners
and housing advocates first-hand. The roundtable was held at the offices of Rep. Dennis Kucinich. According to
an article on Newsnet5.com
, a local news station in
Cleveland, the congressman had long pressed high-ranking officials from the
Treasury Department to come to Cleveland, an epicenter of the foreclosure
crisis, and see for themselves how bad it is. Allison, who is second to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, oversees both
the Troubled Asset Relief Program and the Hardest Hit Fund program that is
providing more than $2.1 billion to address the foreclosure crisis in 10
states. Ohio is receiving $172 million through this program, the sixth
highest allocation. Two homeowners, Jim Ross and Amelia Ayad, both with Chase loans and working
with Empowering & Strengthening Ohio's
People (ESOP), a foreclosure counsel-ing agency in Ohio, were present at the roundtable. Along with other
advocates, Ross and Ayad spoke about the power of ESOP's foreclosure
prevention counseling services. In a statement, ESOP said it was clear that Allison understood the
importance of counseling as a key part of any foreclosure prevention
solution. "There is a growing consensus that counseling has a tremendous impact,"
Allison said. "Some people have had to wait one year or more for a
modification. There's no excuse for that." According to Newsnet5.com, Cuyahoga County Treasurer Jim Rokakis pointed out
a problem with making the federal programs voluntary for institutions, and
he also pushed Allison to consider instituting deadlines on banks to
initiate "an emergency mindset" and get more help quickly. While Allison balked at the idea of deadlines, he appeared open to all
suggestions that could better get the money to homeowners who are sinking,
Newsnet5.com said.Allison also heard from Steve Nesmith, SVP and assistant general counsel for
strategic and government initiatives with Ocwen. Nesmith told Allison that
the government needs to ensure that it funds only those counseling agencies
with effective, measurable outcomes. That, Allison said, would require a rigorous system that standardized
quality, criteria, training, and reporting requirements. He said this would
simply take too long. However, ESOP noted that the National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling
program is already designed to do this. Instead of being cut, the funding
for this program needs to be reinstated, the counseling agency said.
programs, the Department of Treasury's Assistant
Secretary for Financial Stability, Herb Allison, made an unprecedented stop
in Cleveland on Monday to hold a roundtable and hear from local homeowners
and housing advocates first-hand. The roundtable was held at the offices of Rep. Dennis Kucinich. According to
an article on Newsnet5.com
, a local news station in
Cleveland, the congressman had long pressed high-ranking officials from the
Treasury Department to come to Cleveland, an epicenter of the foreclosure
crisis, and see for themselves how bad it is. Allison, who is second to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, oversees both
the Troubled Asset Relief Program and the Hardest Hit Fund program that is
providing more than $2.1 billion to address the foreclosure crisis in 10
states. Ohio is receiving $172 million through this program, the sixth
highest allocation. Two homeowners, Jim Ross and Amelia Ayad, both with Chase loans and working
with Empowering & Strengthening Ohio's
People (ESOP), a foreclosure counsel-ing agency in Ohio, were present at the roundtable. Along with other
advocates, Ross and Ayad spoke about the power of ESOP's foreclosure
prevention counseling services. In a statement, ESOP said it was clear that Allison understood the
importance of counseling as a key part of any foreclosure prevention
solution. "There is a growing consensus that counseling has a tremendous impact,"
Allison said. "Some people have had to wait one year or more for a
modification. There's no excuse for that." According to Newsnet5.com, Cuyahoga County Treasurer Jim Rokakis pointed out
a problem with making the federal programs voluntary for institutions, and
he also pushed Allison to consider instituting deadlines on banks to
initiate "an emergency mindset" and get more help quickly. While Allison balked at the idea of deadlines, he appeared open to all
suggestions that could better get the money to homeowners who are sinking,
Newsnet5.com said.Allison also heard from Steve Nesmith, SVP and assistant general counsel for
strategic and government initiatives with Ocwen. Nesmith told Allison that
the government needs to ensure that it funds only those counseling agencies
with effective, measurable outcomes. That, Allison said, would require a rigorous system that standardized
quality, criteria, training, and reporting requirements. He said this would
simply take too long. However, ESOP noted that the National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling
program is already designed to do this. Instead of being cut, the funding
for this program needs to be reinstated, the counseling agency said.
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