Return to Current Issue

COOK COUNTY, IL - Cook County officials agreed "[foreclosures are] becoming an acute social problem" at a meeting in January with community groups from groups across the area.

Staff for County Board President John Stroger agreed to advocate for a meeting with the county's chief judge to discuss a foreclosure moratorium. They also agreed to consider ideas to try to help people in foreclosure because of predatory loans. One idea is to create a county ombudsman position to help people who are currently facing foreclosure.

Community leaders from the Cook County Stop Foreclosure Campaign initially crashed a county board meeting a week before the presidential election. Up against the wall, board president Stoger conceded a meeting to activists from more than the 20 groups demanding a moratorium on foreclosures.

When Stroger stiffed the group, they showed up for the next meeting in December with some Christmas presents: stockings with coal for each commissioner.

The group demanded that President Stroger convene a meeting with other commissioners to discuss the foreclosure moratorium and work to help homeowners who are facing foreclosure because of predatory loans. The group also demanded that one point person be assigned from Stroger's office to work with the group in the future. Four leaders gave personal accounts of how these lenders' practices have led them to be on the verge of losing their home and how their American dream was turning into a nightmare. They got their meeting.

"The commissioners didn't look too happy. It was uplifting and positive-we stuck to our guns and didn't back down on getting our meeting with Stroger," said Joe McClinton, with St. Thomas Lutheran Church in Chicago.

Stroger agreed to help introduce an ordinance to hold a public hearing with the entire county board. Stroger also said he would help the coalition meet with the Cook County State Attorney's office and the City of Chicago Treasurer's office.

The community groups have built momentum over the past few months to get the County Board to declare a moratorium on sub prime foreclosures. Foreclosures by sub prime lenders, who typically charge excessively high fees and interest rates, have skyrocketed over the past six years. According to NTIC data, sub prime lenders started 11,976 foreclosures in Cook County (including Chicago and near suburbs) from September 1999-September 2000.