New Haven Independent

Miller-Heard’s is only the latest in a series of aggressive foreclosure suits brought by the Greater New Haven Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA) as it attempts to collect old bills from homeowners. (See more coverage of WPCA foreclosures here, here and here.)

In this case, the amount owed, including attorney fees, is about $2,400.

The WPCA scheduled a foreclosure sale last week to seize Miller-Heard’s house, boot the family, and collect money from a new owner to cover the sewer bill.

But a day early, on May 20, Superior Court Judge James Abrams postponed the sale until May 30. He gave Miller-Heard (pictured with two of her children and a grandchild) until May 30 to find a way out

She also faces a separate foreclosure action by the city of New Haven for unpaid property taxes that now total nearly $18,000 with interest and fees.

Miller-Heard’s property at 175 Butler St. has been appraised at $125,000, according to court records, and has not been mortgaged since her father purchased the home in 1992. The lack of any mortgage on the property, Miller-Heard said, has actually made her predicament worse.

“A lot of people are losing their homes,” she said, “but mostly it’s because they’re behind on their mortgages, and there’s money to bail people out from mortgages and re-adjust their rates. Since I don’t have a mortgage, I really can’t get help.”

While she has equity in the home, she said poor credit combined with rising credit score requirements for loans has made it nearly impossible to get relief.

“I’m trying,” she said, “but I’m limited because I can’t just go into Wachovia or Bank of America or a finance company and get a loan to pay my debts off.”

Instead, she said, she called a number on a sign posted in her neighborhood advertising to buy houses for fast cash. The offer was fast, but represented only pennies on the dollar.

“They offered me barely enough just to pay what I owe,” she said — just a little over $30,000.

Her attorney, Ori Spiegel, called the case was a “sad situation,” but said he didn’t believe the WPCA had any realistic alternative to collect the debt.

“There’s nothing the WPCA has done that they’re not entitled to do by law,” he said.

Others, including Superior Court Judge Anthony DeMayo, city aldermen, and legal aid lawyers, have criticized the WPCA for filing foreclosure suits far more quickly than other similar agencies (such as the Regional Water Authority), pushing struggling families further into debt and making it harder for them to hold onto their homes.

WPCA acting Executive Director Gabe Varca and the agency’s attorney on the foreclosure failed to return calls for comment. The agency filed close to 100 foreclosure suits in New Haven last year. That was close to 10 percent of all suits filed in the city.

Miller-Heard said she does not blame the WPCA for trying to collect on her debt. But she said the foreclosure process is so expensive in and of itself that she has ended up with more debt from attorney fees and related costs than she originally owed.

“Just the signs they put up to say the property is being foreclosed on are close to $300,” she said, “and when the appraiser comes that’s $325, plus the ads they put in the paper. All of that stuff adds up fast.”

While she knew she was deep in debt, Miller-Heard said she never anticipated the situation would get this bad.

“I didn’t have foresight into this, I really didn’t,” she said. “I just went day to day.”

She said the financial pressures of supporting eight children and several grandchildren had caused her to get behind on her bills over time.

“Some of them weren’t working at the time, so I took on their financial responsibilities like food and Pampers and travel money and gas money and all that stuff.”

Her situation was only made worse, she said, when she lost her job as a patient care assistant at Yale-New Haven Hospital last April. Her husband works as an independent contractor with a moving company in Stratford and is only “sporadically employed,” she said, leaving the family to temporarily rely on the Social Security payments received by three of her children who have disabilities. The combined total, according to court records, comes to just $1,290 per month.

Miller-Heard said she is currently looking for work, but much of her time and energy have gone to fighting foreclosure actions. She worries about what the future holds for her family.

“It’s not like I can uproot and go get an apartment somewhere,” she said, “because for my size family I couldn’t afford the rent. I’ve looked in the New Haven area at three-bedroom apartments, and it’s like $2,400 a month. I don’t have that.”

At this point, she said, all she can do is hope for the best, and try to minimize the strain on her family.

“Its scary for all of us,” she said. “It puts a lot of tension on the family because they don’t know: One minute we’re up because we got an extension, and then the next thing you know we get another certified letter saying they’re coming after us again. So it’s up and down and the bills are getting higher and the creditors are getting closer and the economy now doesn’t look too good for us, but I’m going to stay positive. All I’ve got is my faith.”

Previous Independent coverage of New Haven’s foreclosure crisis:

• WPCA Uproots Tenants, Too
• Home-Rescue Squad Ignores WPCA
• Sewer Agency Unloads House
• Foreclosure Evictions Halted
• Let The Bank Have It, This Time
• Hazel St. Sale Reflects Economic Climate
• Hill Foreclosure Triggers Memories, & Prayers
• Foreclosure Fee-Slashing Judge Leaves Town
• She’ll Be Watching Deutsche Bank
• A Last Pre-Foreclosure Look At A Lifetime Past
• New Yorker Snags Foreclosed-Upon Gem
• Foreclosure Dream Goes Sour
• Judge Slashes Foreclosure Bounty
• Tax Break Saves Woman’s House
• Bank Replaces “Gunshot Alley” Landlord
• Foreclosure Bill OK’d
• Singh Seeks Home For A Song
• Foreclosure’s Neighbor Worries More About Speeding
• Networking Replaces Foreclosure at Christy’s
• Foreclosure Bargain — & Renewal — Jeopardized
• Bank Outbids Akbar; Family May Keep Home
• “So Don’t Worry About Pablo”
• Bankruptcy Postpones Foreclosure
• Next-Door Foreclosures, 53 Years Apart
• They Met On Foreclosure Way
• Little Garage Draws Big Bids
• A 2nd Chance on Lewis Street
• Foreclosure Attracts New Breed of “Specialist”
• In Foreclosures, Judge’s Hands Tied
• Home Saved From Foreclosure. Cycle, Too
• A House For Precious?
• Deutsche Bank Grabs Dixwell Condo
• Reluctant Bidder Snags F. Haven Bargain
• Well, There’s Always Powerball
• Neighbors Retrieve Home From Bank
• Somebody Has Plans For Bassett Street
• Foreclosed, the Khennavongs Leave the Santanas
• Foreclosure Steal May Be Too Good
• 2nd Foreclosure in 3 Months Dims Bright St.
• After Foreclosure, W’ville Owner Still Hopes To Sell
• He’s Not Buying, Yet
• Quiet Foreclosure on Porter Street
• 3 Minutes Too Late
• Historic Gambardella Property Foreclosed
•2 Homes Lost, 1 Gained
• “Everybody’s Got To Eat”
• More Foreclosures, More Signs
• Foreclosure Sale Benefits Archie Moore’s
• Rescue Squad Swings Into Action
• A Bidder Shows Up
• Bank Beats Tanya’s Bid
• Westville Auction Draws A Crowd
• DeStefano: Foreclosure Plan Ready
• Can They Help?
• “We Should Over-Regulate These Bastards”
• Rosa Hears of Rescues
• WPCA Grilled on Foreclosures
• WPCA’s Targets Struggle To Dig Out
• Sue The Subprimers?
• WPCA Hearing Delayed
• Megna’s “Blood Boils” at WPCA Tactics
• Goldfield Wants WPCA Answers
• 2 Days, 8 Foreclosure Suits
• WPCA Goes On Foreclosure Binge
• A Guru Weighs In
• WPCA Targets Church
• Subprime Mess Targeted
• Renters Caught In Foreclosure King’s Fall
• She’s One Of 1,150 In The Foreclosure Mill
• Foreclosures Threaten Perrotti’s Empire
•“I’m Not Going To Lay Down And Let Them Take My House”
• Struggling Couple Sues Over “Scam”

To learn about the ROOF Project, a community-wide effort to help New Haveners navigate the foreclosure crisis, click here.

The following links are to various materials and brochures designed to help homeowners avoid foreclosure.

How to prepare a complaint to the Department of Banking; Department of Banking Online Assistance Form; Connecticut Department of Banking, Avoiding Foreclosure; FDIC Consumer News; Statewide Legal Services of Connecticut, Inc; Connecticut Bar Association Lawyer Referral Service.

For lawyer referral services in New Haven, call 562-5750 or visit this website. For the Department of Social Services (DSS) Eviction Foreclosure Prevention Program (EFPP), call 211 to see which community-based organization in the state serves your town.

Click here for information on foreclosure prevention efforts from Empower New Haven.