The Piece by Piece Initiative Partners are dedicated to continued response to the foreclosure crisis - both prevention and mitigation of the impacts of foreclosure.  Please visit this page often for notice of events and activity undertaken by Initiative Partners and others!

 

Understanding Rehab Mortgage -  (5/25/2011) - Approximately 125 Home Builders, Rehab Contractors, Lenders, Housing Counselors, Real Estate Professionals and others gathered on May 25, 2011 at the Atlanta Board of Realtors for an informational event about rehab mortgage products: HUD 203(k), HUD 203 (k) Streamline, and Fannie Mae HomePath Renovation and HomeStyle.  DETAILS

Community Planning Academy - Local Government Foreclosure Response (5/24/2011) - The Atlanta Regional Commission's Community Planning Academy (CPA) held a day-long session focused on foreclosure. The session was geared toward elected officials, local government staff and any interested parties who deal with issues related to foreclosures. The morning featured several speakers from around the region who discussed some of the latest data on the housing crisis. The afternoon featured panel discussions focused on effective and innovative practices and programs being employed by local governments in the region. These panels were designed to give CPA attendees an understanding of some of the good work occurring around the region to combat foreclosures and deal with their impacts. Panel participants discussed code enforcement best practices including DeKalb County’s mandatory vacant property registration. Under this program, properties are required to be registered within 30 days following foreclosure sale or proceeding. Representatives from Union City talked about the City’s Operation Cleanup program designed to address vacant properties and code enforcement challenges. MORE

Piece by Piece Midyear Update (5/10/2011) - Last November, the Atlanta region launched the Piece by Piece Initiative, an unprecedented response effort to address the metro area's ongoing foreclosure crisis. Today, the Piece by Piece Initiative has grown to more than 140 national and regional partners who share a commitment to helping more Metro families keep their homes and bringing new life back to vacant and abandoned properties. Since November, partners have been working both individually and collaboratively on public commitments to combat foreclosure in the region. In recent months, some Metro jurisdictions have launched their own efforts tailored to the unique needs of their residents and neighborhoods - in direct response to the Piece by Piece Initiative. DETAILS

Public Policy - Sector Meeting (3/23/2011) - The Piece by Piece policy sector met at the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) on March 23 in conjunction with the Mixed Income Communities Initiative (MICI) quarterly meeting. The agenda included presentations from Douglas and Clayton County on their strategies to combat the foreclosure crisis within their jurisdictions. In addition, we heard an update on efforts by the Livable Communities Coalition and the Center for Community Progress to encourage the formation of local land banks and support legislation to improve the efficacy of land banking as a tool in Georgia. The Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation, Georgia Watch and the Georgia Conservancy provided an overview of bills at the Georgia General Assembly that provide rights to tenant victims of foreclosure; prevents lenders from accelerating mortgage loan balances for delinquent borrowers; and impact local and regional planning efforts. In addition, representatives from DeKalb County and the City of Union City shared successes from new code enforcement strategies. DeKalb County adopted a Foreclosure Registry ordinance in July, 2010 and Union City has implemented a Clean and Lien program that applies a lien on vacant properties to help pay for the cost of cleaning and securing the houses (Union City has used Clean and Lien on 20 single family properties thus far). On May 17, ARC will hold a Community Planning Academy to educate local jurisdictions on code enforcement and other strategies to address the inventory of vacant and abandoned properties. Please see the detailed summary and presentations below for details or contact Susan Adams for more information.

Detailed Meeting Summary
Clayton County Kitchen Table Presentation (PPT)
Douglas County Piece by Piece Presentation (PPT)

Local Government - Sector Meeting (2/1/2011) - Atlanta Regional Commission convened a Piece by Piece sector meeting targeting local government community development officials. More than 35 representatives of the City of Atlanta, Clayton County, DeKalb County, Douglas County, Fulton County, and Rockdale County along with other key stakeholders shared best practices in code enforcement, housing data collection, Neighborhood Stabilization Program activities, innovative uses of federal subsidy funds, and strategies for engaging across jurisdictional department lines on the issue of foreclosure. The group will convene again in April.

NOTE: At this same meeting, HUD's Southeast Regional Administrator Ed Jennings, Jr. announced grants totaling over $4 million to over 20 Georgia housing counseling agencies as part of HUD's commitment to the Piece by Piece Initiative. Ed Jennings was joined by counseling agency grantees, officials from the Georgia Department of Community Affairs, ARC and ANDP for the announcement.

Research/Data - Sector Meeting (12/6/2010) - Research sector met on December 6 at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta with future plans to prepare a resource guide to all regional data resources and research related to foreclosure.