St. Petersburg Neighborhood Housing Services, Inc.

Celebrates 2009 Partners Luncheon and National Homeownership Month

By Joyce Nanette Johnson

St. Petersburg Neighborhood Housing Services, Inc. (SPNHS) recently held their “2009 Partners Luncheon”. The occasion was to give recognition and show appreciation to their “partners” who, through their dedication and service, have provided valuable assistance to SPNHS with their housing programs, and to launch “National Homeownership Month”.

According to C. Randolph Wedding, Vice Chair of the board at SPNHS and a former mayor of St. Petersburg, “partners’ contribute to the success of St. Petersburg Neighborhood Housing Services, Inc by providing a myriad of services from man-power support, knowledge, and in some cases even financial assistance. He noted that the city of St. Petersburg’s Housing Department and SPNHS have partnered successfully to promote homeownership and rehabilitation programs. “The premier things at the moment are foreclosure intervention and neighborhood preservation programs,” Mr. Wedding stressed.

St. Petersburg Neighborhood Housing Services, Inc., located at 1600 Dr. Martin Luther King Street South, provides homeownership education and counseling, down payment, and assistance loans. However, with the severe economic climate the majority of the time is spent in foreclosure prevention and intervention counseling. For the current fiscal year SPNHS has helped 100 families to save their homes from foreclosure, while providing financial fitness and homebuyer education to approximately 400 families. They are now intervening and working closing with another 250 families to hopefully prevent them from having their homes foreclosed. Deborah F. Scanlan, President and CEO of SPNHS, also noted that through the help that the agency has received, from some of their partners, within the last year they have successfully helped 15 families to become new homeowners.

The “2009 Partners Luncheon” also offered a political forum for several of the mayoral candidates. In attendance were Jamie Bennett, Richard Eldridge, Bill Foster, Kathleen Ford, Deveron Gibbons, and Larry Williams. All of the candidates voiced complimentary remarks for the work that St. Petersburg Housing Services, Inc. does for the community. Also attending the luncheon were Tom DeYambert, Housing and Financial Manager for the city of St. Petersburg, Deputy Mayor David Metz, City Council members Wengay Newton, Leslie Curran, and Karl Nurse, Cherin Stover from the Wealth Building Coalition, realtor Lou Brown, State Representative Darryl Rouson, and wife Angela, who is a candidate for city council, and many other distinguished guests.

Congresswoman Kathy Castor sent representatives and Congressman Young sent a letter acknowledging the outstanding work that SPNHS has done to help more people become homeowners.

Some of the “partners”, of St. Petersburg Neighborhood Housing Services Inc., include Bank of America, BB&T Bank, City of St. Petersburg, Colonial Bank, Florida Housing Finance Corporation, General Home Development, Northern Trust Bank, Pinellas County, Regions Bank, St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership, Spectrum Mortgage, Sun Title Insurance, SunTrust Bank, Third Federal Savings, and Wachovia Bank.

The Weekly Challenger

How to avoid foreclosure scams

St. Petersburg, Florida - So many people facing foreclosure are looking for help in all the wrong places and they're losing thousands of dollars to fly by night companies that make big promises but never deliver.

It's a lesson Sharon Boykin learned the hard way. She moved from London to St. Petersburg eight years ago. Four years ago she bought her first home and says she knew it would be the perfect place to raise her 15 month old son, Taylor. "I thought about him before he was even conceived. This house has always been for him. The neighborhood is beautiful. The neighbors are lovely, quiet, no problems. You could leave your house unlocked."

But when the economy slowed she found herself in the same situation as so many others. She lost her job and fell behind on the mortgage. She hired an out of town foreclosure rescue company that promised to negotiate a loan modification with her mortgage company but there was a catch. She had to pay them 1,250 dollars first. Boykin says "They were quick to take my money and then lo and behold I never heard anything back from my mortgage company which arose suspicion in me."

Two months went by and Boykin called her lender directly only to learn they'd never received a call from the foreclosure rescue company.

It's a story Jason Ohman who is an investigator with Pinellas County Justice and Consumer Service hears all too often. Their office is located at 15251 Roosevelt Boulevard in Clearwater.

Ohman says there has been an increase in the number of homeowners filing complaints about foreclosure scams. He says the public needs to know about a relatively new law that seeks to protect them. "Florida law requires that anyone offering these foreclosure rescue consulting services - they have to first put their agreement in writing and the second part of that law that's important is that these companies can no longer accept fees up front until all the services that are listed in that written agreement have been provided to the consumer."

Ohman says a lot of consumers don't realize there are three HUD approved housing agencies across the Bay area that can help them if they're facing foreclosure. They provide help for free.

1) St. Petersburg Neighborhood Housing Services

2) Clearwater Neighborhood Housing Services

3) Tampa Bay Community Development Corporation

Boykin has a job and is now working with a counselor at the St. Petersburg Neighborhood Housing Services. "As soon as I spoke to members of the organization I felt peace and I felt like it was going to be taken care of."

Tampa Bay 10 Connects

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