New Haven Independent

Three dozen people arrived early for the free workshop, presented Monday night on Sherman Avenue by Michael Haynes (pictured), housing counselor coordinator for Neighborhood Housing Services of New Haven. They waited in silence, and the distress was palpable. Eventually, more than 40 homeowners crowded into the room. And this workshop is offered weekly.

It’s one of several efforts NHS has made to help struggling homeowners avoid losing their homes to foreclosure. (Read more about that here.)

Haynes explained there are three stages to “mortgage distress.” The first is learning one’s mortgage payments are going to be adjusted upward; the second is being 30 days or more delinquent on payments but not yet having received any court documents; the third is receiving a court summons from one’s lender announcing that the home is in foreclosure.

He handed out a packet containing copies of forms to fill out to represent oneself in foreclosure hearings, to request foreclosure mediation, and several pages containing details about the Obama administration’s $75 billion Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan — part of the $787 billion stimulus package — that promises to help “as many as 7 to 9 million homeowners making a good-faith effort to stay current on their mortgage payments, while attempting to prevent the destructive impact of foreclosures on families and communities.”

Haynes explained how to apply for mortgage assistance and reviewed some programs listed in the packet that could be helpful. At each step he asked, “Any questions?” and waited to make sure everyone was with him. He cracked gentle jokes from time to time and seemed to hit just the right note of concern for the attendees’ plight, while trying to lift the veil of fear and uncertainty in the room.

He spent most of the hour explaining eight “mortgage intervention options.” They range from a repayment plan for the amount of the delinquency, to refinancing, to bankruptcy. Each option is geared to handle a certain set of circumstances.

In answer to the questions posed above, Haynes said that yes, showing income from a boarder can count if it’s for a significant period of time, like a year. And being unemployed doesn’t automatically spell foreclosure.

At the start he emphasized that NHS would protect everyone’s confidentiality, and no photos were allowed. In response to a reporter’s request as to whether anyone was willing to share his or her story after the workshop, one man, Jaime (who declined to give his last name), said he owns a home in West Haven, and is one month late on his mortgage payments. A friend told him about the NHS mortgage assistance clinic. “I came to see if I can get my mortgage payments lowered,” he said in Spanish. “I am listening and doing what people tell me to do, but I don’t know if it will help.” He added that Haynes presentation was “excellent,” and said he would follow up by requesting a private appointment.

Someone asked about the option of mortgage modification, which Haynes said is the most common type of intervention. “You shouldn’t have to pay an outside source for modification,” he said. “Because of this crisis there are people making money off your problems.” Then he looked around and smiled, and added, “Well, not you in this room.”

Afterward, Haynes said that over the past year, weekly attendance at the workshops has averaged about 30 people. They come with a combination of problems: having sub-prime mortgages that have adjusted upward is a big one, but he said more recently he’s seen more employment-related problems. “People have gotten laid off, or had cuts in hours or wages; a lot of self-employed contractors have lost most of their business.” He noted that local banks are much easier to deal with than out of state banks, and not that many foreclosures have come from local banks, anyway. As for out of state banks, he said, “They’re pretty much all the same. People are rude and not knowledgeable, and you have to call back again and again to get information.”