Tuesday, October 2, 2012
More than 700 people came to the gathering of religious leaders, state and national politicians, and financial institution representatives.
On a night when local religious leaders challenged state and national politicians and financial institution representatives to play the part of the Good Samaritan and assist their neighbors struggling with foreclosure, Montclair resident Chris Phillips came to the gathering at St. Paul's United Methodist Church organized by Virginians Organized for Interfaith Community Engagement to ask for help before he gets evicted from his foreclosed home on Thursday morning. Phillips, who works in IT, heard about VOICE from Rev. Clyde Ellis at Mount Olive Baptist Church, where he has been playing bass and drums since he moved to Woodbridge several months ago. Phillips had a loan with the Virginia Housing Development Authority. In relocating to …
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Two major banks announce assistance for underwater Prince William County homeowners at a VOICE event.
Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase executives announced Sunday night that almost 1,000 Prince William County, Manassas and Manassas Park homeowners will qualify for help through the $26 billion National Mortgage Settlement. The announcement came during a packed rally organized by the interfaith group Virginians Organized for Interfaith Community Engagement (VOICE) at First Baptist Church in Manassas. Five banks, including Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase, and the attorneys general of 49 states agreed on the $26 billion settlement in February related to charges of negligent foreclosure practices. Today, residents heard what that settlement means for their own homes and the community. As part of the national settlement, Andrew D. Plepler…
Monday, October 31, 2011
Prince William County area activists continue to work with financial institutions on solving the area's foreclosure crisis. At an event Sunday, Bank of America pledged money to pay for three HUD-certified housing counselors.
Meg Carroll has seen firsthand how foreclosures can bring a once proud subdivision to near desperation. As the community manager of Georgetown South in Manassas, she has seen abandoned homes used for prostitution, vandalism and drug dealing—all because of predatory lending practices of some of the country’s largest financial institutions. Carroll said almost 300 of the 850 homes in the subdivision are now foreclosed. “It is destruction on the outside, and for those of us who can peel back the layer, there is more and it is absolutely horrible to see it,” Carroll said. Community leaders like Carroll got some good news Sunday at an event that VOICE organized at Freedom High School in Woodbridge, when one of these banks pledged money to help …
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Religious and community leaders from VOICE continue campaign to hold big financial institutions accountable for role in area's foreclosure crisis.
- THE NEIGHBORHOOD FILES
- Erin Gibson
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Tuesday, September 20, 2011
The Georgetown South Community was built in the mid 1960s and was considered a standout neighborhood at the time. It was the first of its kind—row houses built in the likeness of Georgetown on the Potomac River. Fast forward several years; past the real estate crash and foreclosure crisis and that same neighborhood of 860 units has 75 vacant properties. Neighborhood advocates say homeownership has fallen from above 60 percent to below 40 percent. Meg Carroll, community manager for the Georgetown South Community Council, said the inability of the banks to renegotiate/modify loans for distressed homeowners has led to the high number of foreclosures in the Manassas City neighborhood. In 2009, 21 percent of the homes in Georgetown South were …
Christopher S. Phillips
9:20 am on Wednesday, October 3, 2012
I am usually not one to tell my personal business. I now realize my next door neighbor could be going thru the same thing, or something similar with no way out. I didn’t ask for a handout, I asked for an opportunity to fix my situation. I went to a town hall meeting, heard U.S. Sen. Mark Warner and Shaun Donovan, U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and other public figures, talk about… more ›