Detroit sheriff suspends foreclosure sales

Wayne County Sheriff Warren Evans announced Feb. 2 that his office will immediately suspend all sales on foreclosed homes in the county.

“Today I will be stopping all mortgage foreclosure sales in Wayne County beginning with the sales that were scheduled for this Wednesday,” Evans said. “I am doing so because it’s my opinion that recently enacted federal laws provide protections for homeowners facing foreclosure.”

WW photo: Alan Pollock

Evans met with attorneys familiar with foreclosure law on Jan. 29. He said in a press conference that federal law preempts state laws and that he believes the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) approved by Congress last fall requires the secretary of the Treasury to implement a plan to mitigate foreclosures and to encourage loan servicers to modify mortgages to allow homeowners to stay in their homes.

Evans took this action after he sent a letter to Gov. Jennifer Granholm requesting a declaration of a state of emergency in Wayne County and a six-month moratorium on foreclosures.

“Not only is Wayne County experiencing a time of great public crisis, disaster and catastrophe, public safety is imperiled by the number of foreclosed citizens living on the street or committing crimes with the actual intent of being jailed,” Sheriff Evans’ letter said. (Detroit News, Jan. 26)

The sheriff’s office saw a 32 percent increase in foreclosure sales between 2006 and 2007, the letter said.

Granholm’s office dismissed Evans’ letter. Spokesperson Liz Boyd stated, “The governor does not have the legal authority to declare a moratorium.” When asked if the governor would declare a state of emergency as requested in Evans’ letter, Boyd said, “I don’t know how much more clear I can be other than saying the governor does not have the authority to declare a moratorium.” (Michigan Messenger, Jan. 23)

Attorneys and organizers with the Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures and Evictions say the governor does have executive authority, clearly outlined in Michigan law, to take measures such as a declaration of emergency and imposition of a moratorium on foreclosures. Granholm has consistently refused to take such action.

A coalition press release stated: “Had Granholm acted two years ago when we first raised these demands to her, tens of thousands of Michiganders would still be in their homes; our communities would not have been destroyed with homes in Detroit selling at a median price of $7,500 in 2008; and countless individuals would not have frozen to death. Along with the banks and financial interests who have plundered the people of Michigan, Granholm, through her deliberate indifference, is fully culpable for the incredible suffering experienced by poor and working people in our state.

“On Feb. 3, we will again be demonstrating at the governor’s State of the State address. It’s too late for half measures. The time is now for Granholm to declare a state of economic emergency in Michigan and place a two-year moratorium on foreclosures, evictions and utility shutoffs. Nothing less will suffice. A two-year moratorium will allow the people of Michigan to survive while the Obama (two-year) stimulus plan has a chance to take effect. There is plenty of legal precedent for this action and the governor knows it. The question is, who is Granholm going to represent, the workers and poor or the banking interests which have been bailed out with trillions of our tax dollars?”

State Sen. Hansen Clarke has reintroduced a bill in the state legislature for a two-year moratorium on foreclosures—SB 29. In 2008 Clarke’s SB 1306, an identical bill, languished in the banking committee. Its chair, Sen. Randy Richardville, whose election campaigns have been heavily financed by bankers, refused to hold public hearings on it.

Michigan is among the top 10 states for households in foreclosure. In 2008, more than 3 million foreclosure filings were initiated in the U.S., an 81 percent increase from 2007 and a 225 percent increase in total properties in foreclosure from 2006. (realtytrac.com, Jan. 15)