Sheriff in Chicago Ends Evictions in Foreclosures
Law enforcement officers in Chicago will no longer evict residents from foreclosed properties, Sheriff Thomas J. Dart of Cook County announced Wednesday.
The department was on pace to conduct 4,700 foreclosures this year, nearly triple the number from two years ago, Sheriff Dart said.
Housing advocates said that they thought the measure was the first of its kind, but that in recent years, several sheriffs and judges around the country had taken other steps to slow foreclosure proceedings, like requiring lenders to produce titles proving they owned the properties in question. In Philadelphia this year, Sheriff John D. Green temporarily suspended sales of foreclosed properties.
Sheriff Dart said he took the measure because an increasing number of the residents being evicted were renters who might have been dutifully paying their rent, and might have had no knowledge that the owner was behind on the mortgage.
Under a new Chicago law, renters are entitled to a 90-day grace period, starting at the time a foreclosure sale is confirmed, before they can be evicted.
“It started with just a couple cases like that, but they kept multiplying,” Sheriff Dart said. “Just in the past month, about a third of the people we were asked to evict were under very questionable circumstances. It got to the point that enough was enough.”
Officials at the national Mortgage Bankers Association were unavailable for comment, a spokesman said. Officials at the Illinois Mortgage Bankers Association did not return calls seeking comment.
On a recent case, deputies were called to evict residents at a foreclosed building...and arrived to find six families who were all paying rent to the landlord.
“All the time we paid every month, he never said nothing,” said Alma Aquino, who lived in one unit with her husband, their two children, and Mrs. Aquino’s mother and sister, for a rent of $850. “My husband tried to explain, but the sheriffs said we can’t talk, we need to evacuate.”
The family ended up staying, and Sheriff Dart, who has supported legislation to protect residents in foreclosures, soon stopped evictions.
Sheriff Dart said the evictions had taken an emotional toll on his staff. “It’s one of most gut-wrenching things we do, seeing little children put out on the street with their possessions. And the hard part is that the parent played by all the rules, and they’re being traumatized.”
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"Officials at the national Mortgage Bankers Association were unavailable for comment, a spokesman said. "
"Officials at the Illinois Mortgage Bankers Association did not return calls seeking comment."
No comment?
Not surprising, there is a special level in hell for these types.
"On a recent case, deputies were called to evict residents at a foreclosed building...and arrived to find six families who were all paying rent to the landlord."
What a gem of a human being this slum lord is, he should be brought up on 6 separate counts of fraud, intent to commit fraud and if anyone paid by cashiers checks, wire fraud to boot.
Maybe he wouldn't be doing this if he RESPECTED THE LAW.
What a scumbag.
"The department was on pace to conduct 4,700 foreclosures this year, nearly triple the number from two years ago, Sheriff Dart said."
That works out to 12.87 evictions a day if performed for 365 days of the year...wow.
18.07 if your doing just 5 days a week, yeah I bet the police really don't see this as law enforcement....neither do I.
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Sheriff Thomas J. Dart of Cook County you are a hero to me, to your friends, to your neighbors and lastly to every American out there.
Detroit Daily Dirt salutes you Sheriff Dart.
Welcome To Detroit
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