Elderly Facing Foreclosure Rely On Housing Non-Profits To Save Homes

Two recent stories report on the efforts of community housing non-profit groups to help the elderly save their homes from foreclosure:

1) In Irvington, New Jersey, The Star Ledger reports on the efforts of one group to help 83-year old Annie Anderson from losing her home of 30 years after it was sold at a foreclosure sale and the local sheriff's office showed up at her front door to evict her:

• CDC Properties, an affiliate of First Baptist Community Development Corporation, has a housing recovery initiative that helps families facing foreclosure. Under the program, CDC Properties will make an offer to buy Anderson's home, then rent it back to her or sell it to her when she qualifies for a mortgage. The Rev. DeForest "Buster" Soaries Jr., senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens, said Anderson's case needs to be investigated to determine if there was fraud. "Somebody got over on Mrs. Anderson," said Soaries, who also is chairman of CDC Properties.

For more, see A pillar of town gets vital support.

2) In Columbus, Ohio, NBC 4 reports:

• [I]t isn't much of a house to look at on the outside, but inside, it's Oneida Street's home. It has been since 1959 and she's hoping to keep it that way. However, she is in the middle of a foreclosure. [...] For more than 80 years, she's been playing the organ for her Methodist church, saying it keeps her going. At an age when most people would have their home paid off, she's still making payments. There has been a series of bad loans, unemployment and the dead and cancer bills of her late husband, all of which has had her paying a mortgage for nearly half a century. Recently, Street got in touch with the Columbus Housing Partnership, which has helped her reduce her payments.

For more, see Local Resident Depends On Group To Keep Her Home.