A group of Queens pols is touting a new program to help people living in foreclosed homes turn their fortunes around.
Council members representing southeast Queens gathered Tuesday morning to unveil the new Foreclosure Buyback Program, also known as the City Restoration Program.
They said the initiative is the first in the country of its kind, and would allow nonprofits to purchase distressed mortgages throughout New York City from the Federal Housing Association.
More than 40 so-called “zombie homes” across New York City have been selected for the pilot program, which has partnered with a number of nonprofits to purchase distressed mortgages.
Once these are bought back from the FHA, the nonprofits will work with families to restructure their mortgages and give them the opportunity to remain in their homes.
Councilman I. Daneek Miller, who spearheaded the program, called it a response to the foreclosure crisis that has disproportionately struck areas like southeast Queens.
"Communities are redlined," Miller said, referring to the discriminatory practice of banks rejecting mortgages for residents of certain areas.
"You can't go through a traditional bank to get a traditional mortgage, and then we become very vulnerable and susceptible to predatory lenders."
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