Frontier Housing Races to Clean Up After the May 2 Flood

Last week’s massive flash floods have caused incredible damage and heartache to residents in areas of Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee. In Morehead, Kentucky, staff and volunteers of NeighborWorks member organization Frontier Housing, are still hard at work meeting the immediate needs of their residents at Boodry Place, where the entire first floor structure and contents were damaged or destroyed.

Boodry Place is a residential, rental community where senior citizens and persons with disabilities, including children, live. Thankfully all ten families impacted are safe.

“The important thing is that our residents are all okay. The first floor residents have been safely moved to a shelter and the second and third floor residents are still in place,” said Stacey Epperson, president of Frontier Housing. “We appreciate everyone’s cooperation and patience as we bring every resource available to restoring Boodry Place.”

Residents are now staying in various locations, including with family members, vacant apartments on the second and third floors at Boodry and at a guest house provided by Morehead State University while repairs are underway.

To find out more information, go to http://www.frontierhousing.org/.

Forensic Mortgage Loan Auditing is Latest Scam Targeting Homeowners

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued a consumer alert about a new twist on mortgage loan modification fraud. According to the nation’s top consumer protection agency, the latest scam to exploit financially strapped homeowners is the “forensic mortgage loan audit.”

The FTC says the fraud works like this: In exchange for an upfront fee of several hundred dollars, so-called forensic loan auditors offer to review the homeowner’s mortgage loan documents to determine whether the lender complied with state and federal mortgage lending laws. If a violation is found, the “auditors” say their findings can be used to avoid foreclosure, accelerate the loan modification process, reduce the loan principal, or even cancel the loan.

Nothing could be further from the truth, according to the FTC and its law enforcement partners. Forensic loan audits don’t help homeowners with loan modification or any other foreclosure relief.

Through the national Loan Modification Scam Alert campaign, NeighborWorks America is working with the FTC and other federal, state and local agencies to help homeowners facing foreclosure to spot loan modification scams, find trusted help and report illegal activity to authorities. NeighborWorks also urges homeowners who need help to go to findaforeclosurecounselor.org or call 1-888-995-HOPE (4673) to get legitimate assistance from a HUD-certified housing counseling agency.

Green Homes Can — and Should — Be Affordable Homes

by Thomas P. Deyo, Deputy Director
Green, National Real Estate & Community Stabilization
NeighborWorks America

How can homes be efficient and healthy while remaining affordable?

“It’s about paying careful attention to the basics — thoughtful design, smart choices and good building,” says The Home Depot Foundation President Kelly Caffarelli, in a really thoughtful article on how families of modest incomes can reap the economic and health benefits of environmentally friendly homes.

I agree, and was pleased to see Community Housing Partners (CHP) — a NeighborWorks member organization in Christianburg, Virginia — cited as a prime example of how nonprofit developers are building green, affordable homes as a matter of practice.

CHP is just one of many organizations in the NeighborWorks network that are bringing green benefits to moderate- and low-income communities through green home design, construction and rehabilitation. In fact, NeighborWorks America and the NeighborWorks network are fully committed to creating or rebuilding healthy, sustainable communities across the country. Visit nw.org/green to see a sample of the award-winning, green developments in the NeighborWorks network.

Cafarelli’s article, Green affordable housing protects pocketbooks, people and the planet, was published in Mother Nature Network’s blog.

Kudos to a Grassroots Effort to Stem Impact of Foreclosures in Detroit

As residents move out of a Detroit neighborhood hard hit by foreclosures, Bill Swanson spends his days trying to persuade businesses to move into vacant commercial spaces. "Shop by shop and block by block, the head of the local business alliance is waging a grassroots fight against crime, blight and neglect." CNN Money

We can't help but applaud this kind of effort.

http://bit.ly/9GVbOH

NeighborWorks America Reaffirms Its Commitment to 'Go Green'

As the nation celebrates Earth Day 2010, NeighborWorks America reaffirms its commitment to help low- and moderate-income communities across the nation go “green” and become healthy, sustainable places for people to live and work.

The commitment begins at home with NeighborWorks America’s pledge to reduce its own carbon footprint by 10 percent by 2012, and to offer training and education on green practices to the nonprofit community development field at large.

The commitment continues throughout the NeighborWorks network, which is working hard to promote green practices in communities through green home design and construction, rehabilitation, weatherization, energy efficient rental properties, and green jobs training. NeighborWorks America and the NeighborWorks network are fully committed to work together to create or rebuild healthy, sustainable communities across the country.

“This is an exciting time for the nonprofit community development field and its efforts to create healthy, sustainable and affordable housing,” said Thomas P. Deyo, deputy director of National Initiatives and Applied Research at NeighborWorks America. “NeighborWorks America is committed to being a leader in employing and promoting green and sustainable practices for the long-term benefit of the environment and our nation’s communities, so that all people can live, work, and play in healthy, ecologically friendly and affordable places.”

The NeighborWorks newsroom has more information, including highlights of just a few of the local NeighborWorks organizations’ green initiatives currently underway.

Learn about NeighborWorks Green Agenda at www.nw.org/green, and about Green training opportunities at http://www.nw.org/network/green/training.asp.