Foreclosure Mitigation Program Aims to Preserve Vacant Homes

Like many communities throughout the nation, Romeoville is not immune to the problems that can arise when formerly occupied homes sit vacant following foreclosure proceedings.

However, unlike some of its counterparts, the village has created an aggressive foreclosure mitigation program that has caught the attention of city officials from as far away as Texas and Georgia. Will County suburbs, as well as other communities from throughout the Chicagoland area, have likewise expressed interest in Romeoville’s efforts, said Leslie Diedrich, a village planner who serves as foreclosure mitigation manager.

The program also earned recognition from the National League of Cities (NLC) as a finalist for the league’s 2009 Award for Municipal Excellence. The program, one of 34 plans selected from among 192 nominations in 39 states, was touted for its efforts to help the community thrive.

The plan was implemented after the completion of a 2008 study that detailed local housing trends and the problems that can come along with foreclosures. Following the study, the Village of Romeoville started tracking local foreclosures. If homes were still occupied, village staff provided owners with much-needed information about the foreclosure process, community resources and the various options available to them, all designed to help keep families in their homes. If residents had moved out, the village began steps to preserve the condition of the empty structures and mitigate the impact of the vacant homes on neighboring properties.

“One of our main goals is to minimize property damage to homes that have been abandoned and are in the final stages of a foreclosure,” Diedrich said. “Much of this has been possible with our ability to track water usage and turn off water service when a home has gone vacant. This has made the instances of burst water pipes in abandoned homes nearly non-existent.”

According to Diedrich, much of the program’s success stems from the village’s diligent tracking of homes at risk for foreclosure.

“We use this tracking information to assist many village departments—police, fire, water and building—monitor homes throughout the village. It takes a lot of interdepartmental cooperation to make it all possible.”

The village has worked hard to publicize the program to members of the community.

“Many residents are aware that if they are to call the village regarding issues with vacant and foreclosed homes, we have contacts for banks, attorneys and realtors that can often address property maintenance issues,” Diedrich said. “Residents also know that the village can be contacted regarding high grass and weeds at properties that are abandoned, and we will send out our contracted landscape company to mow the lawn. To date, we have not received negative feedback from Romeoville residents regarding our foreclosure problem.”

According to Diedrich, the village building department inspected nearly 200 vacant homes in 2010.

“Also in 2010, about 175 foreclosed homes were sold to new owners,” she said. “These two numbers do not necessarily correlate, as many foreclosures we did inspections on in the previous year did not sell until 2010.”

Since the foreclosure mitigation program began in early 2009, 380 foreclosed homes have been sold in the village, Diedrich said. The number of homes that were taken by the bank through a sheriff's sale in 2010 totaled just more than 100. Today, Diedrich added, there are about 240 bank-owned homes in Romeoville, which represents around 2 percent of the total single-family housing stock in the village.

According to RealtyTrac, a California-based real estate tracking company, there are 1,271 homes in some stage of foreclosure, from pre-foreclosure to bank-owned, in the village. Joliet had the highest number of area foreclosures with 2,915; compared with Plainfield, 2,386; Bolingbrook, 1,816; Naperville, 1,589; Oswego, 861; Lemont, 270; and Channahon, 211.