Foreclosure Prevention Project

South Brooklyn Legal Services - 030107

Abstract Number: 030107

December 2002

South Brooklyn Legal Services (SBLS) created the Foreclosure Prevention Project (FPP) to provide outreach, education, and legal services to low-income people who are at risk of losing their home to foreclosure. SBLS does screening for intake through a foreclosure hotline staffed by bilingual advocates. In addition to litigating in state and federal court, SBLS helped to create a City-Wide Foreclosure Prevention Task Force (FPTF) through which partner agencies can make referrals as well as share information on predatory lending. FPTF also assists in distributing community legal education materials which SBLS has had translated into a number of languages including Spanish, Chinese, Korean, and Haitian Creole. SBLS staff members regularly offer community legal education workshops to educate the public on identifying predatory lending practices and help them learn how to protect themselves from being victimized by predatory lenders. SBLS also offers trainings for attorneys on legal issues pertaining to foreclosure prevention and also serves as a city-wide resource for organizations and advocates with clients threatened with foreclosure. SBLS also provides assistance to an increasing number of clients who are threatened with foreclosure due to the lasting effects of the economic fallout following 9/11.

The SBLS FPP works closely with the Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project and the Parodneck Foundation with which Fannie Mae, and several local banks have established a revolving mortgage fund to assist clients already victimized by predatory lenders and to help them obtain new mortgages at reasonable rates.

To learn more about SBLS' FPP, access Josh Zinner's article attached below entitled "Building a Comprehensive Foreclosure Prevention Project at an LSC-Funded Program." Also, visit SBLS' website at: http://www.sbls.org/.

Contact Information:

Josh Zinner
South Brooklyn Legal Services
105 Court Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201
Phone: (718) 237-5500
Fax: (718) 855-0733
joshz@sbls.org

Additional Information:

• Josh Zinner, "Building a Comprehensive Foreclosure Prevention Project at an LSC-Funded Program," The Consumer Advocate 6, No. 1 (January-February 2000) 53-64. ( 334k)
• 2008 Update

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