The Bar Association of Baltimore City’s Senior Legal Services Program is proud to announce that it will host its 22nd Annual Law Day for Seniors event:
Saturday, April 20, 2013 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Borgerding District Court Building
5800 Wabash Avenue, Baltimore, Maryland 21215
The event attracts hundreds of Baltimore City seniors every year for informative talks on legal topics pertinent to seniors. This year, attorneys will be discussing: What To Do When a Loved One Dies, and Landlord/Tenant Issues Facing Senior Citizens. Additionally, there will also be a Medicare Part D update and a round table “Ask an Attorney” question and answer session for seniors at the event, a “Benefits Check Up” and many resource/referral materials. Breakfast and lunch provided.
To reserve your free seat at Senior Law Day, contact Jacqueline Jones at jjones@baltimorebar.org or 410-396-5278. Provide your name and number of attending seniors. Group Reservations are welcome. Free Onsite Parking and Handicapped Accessible.
The 22nd annual Law Day for Seniors is made possible through the generous support of Saul Ewing, LLP, The Health Department of Baltimore City, CARE Services, The Maryland Legal Services Corporation and The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, Inc.
Legal Services launched a webpage on Monday, March 18, 2013 that allows clients to complete intake securely online (click above image).
There are exciting things happening in St. Ambrose’s Legal Services program. On Monday, March 18, 2013 two things occured. The program launched a new webpage which allows people facing a legal problems to send a question and complete intake securely online. This was made possible by a grant from the Baltimore Bar Foundation.
Also on Monday, the Legal Department was featured in the Maryland Daily Record in an article by Joe Surkiewicz [Full Article: Subscriber Access Required]. Legal Director Jeanette Cole and Executive Director Gerard Joab were interviewed and quoted in the story:
Getting the legal program on track is Jeanette Cole, who joined St. Ambrose last year as director of legal services.
“The plan is not only to address foreclosure head-on, but to assist people before the problems lead to foreclosure — such as with consumer debt and credit reports,” Cole said. “When people are in financial distress, an appointment to see a lawyer is not always a priority, or even a hurdle they think they have to deal with. So it pays to be proactive. And it helps to have housing counselors, who the clients see first and are often referred to a lawyer here.”
Currently, Cole has one staff attorney and is in the process of hiring another. “We’re going out into the community, working with community organizers and offering a lawyer for free sitting at a desk and talking to clients,” she said.
Preventative issues that can be resolved with the help of a lawyer include helping people get the public benefits they’re entitled to.
Jeanette Cole shared a few recent client stories:
One recent client is a woman who has been raising her grandchild for 10 years. “The father was paying the mother child support, but not the grandmother,” Cole said. “With our assistance, she got the pro se forms and a family law attorney. Now she gets the child support paid directly to her.”
As a result, the grandmother can now afford to move to a safer neighborhood. “This impacts the quality of life for the child,” Cole noted. “That’s not foreclosure work. But it improved the quality of housing and the quality of the child’s life.”
Another result of outreach: “We found a house where rooms are rented and an entire family was living in one room,” Cole said. “We assisted them when the house went into foreclosure. The landlord didn’t tell them! With our help, they weren’t put out on the street.
“Foreclosure is such a final step for people,” Cole added. “Foreclosure prevention is ultimately what we’re about, using housing counselors and lawyers. We help them before things get too bad.”
Regarding the Department’s revamped priorities and intake process:
So far, Cole and her staff are meeting the foreclosure prevention demand. “When people are in distress, you can’t tell them to come back in two weeks,” she said. “It’s important that they know they spoke with a lawyer. We have open intake, not just certain hours.”
The bottom line is direct services to clients.
“It’s important and part of St. Ambrose’s history,” Joab said. “If you need help, this is where you come.”
St. Ambrose Housing Aid Center’s Legal Department can be reached in the following ways:
Did you know that St. Ambrose’s Homesharing program is the only shared housing program in Maryland? Click through to read about the agility of shared housing in response to Superstorm Sandy; the World Homeshare Congress 2013; St. Ambrose’s online Homesharing search; and a shared housing strategic guide and webinar.
New research has been released on the effectiveness of pre-purchase housing counseling and education – a core service available at St. Ambrose Housing Aid Center. The research found that homebuyers who received counseling were one-third less likely to fall behind on their mortgages 90 days or more, two years after taking out the loan, compared to homebuyers who did not receive similar counseling and education. The research was done for NeighborWorks America, a national nonprofit affiliated with St. Ambrose Housing Aid Center, by Neil Mayer and Associates and Experian, and is based on approximately 75,000 mortgage loans originated in 2007, 2008 and 2009.
The research findings have important implications for St. Ambrose Housing Aid Center and the entire housing counseling and education industry. While we have long known anecdotally that pre-purchase housing counseling and education provided by certified professionals at St. Ambrose is effective at helping to create homeowners who are less likely to default, this research provides significant backup.
The NeighborWorks America research shows how a small investment up front that finances the availability of pre-purchase housing counseling and education can help homeowners avoid financial losses by potentially staving off serious delinquency that has a good chance of extending into foreclosure, help prevent disruption of family life, and help keep communities stable that might be hurt by home foreclosure.
Estimates vary, but total losses due to foreclosure borne by local governments, servicers and households can exceed $50,000 per foreclosure, according to a report from the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress.
According to the Mortgage Bankers Association National Delinquency Survey for the fourth quarter of 2012, the percentage of residential mortgage loans 90 days or more past due across the country was 6.78 percent, and 3.74 percent of homeowners nationwide were in foreclosure. By providing NeighborWorks pre-purchase housing counseling and education to more consumers, it’s likely that tens of thousands of the more than 1.5 million homeowners who received a default notice in 2012 may have been able to avoid entering foreclosure.
Repeat Homebuyers
Interestingly, the NeighborWorks America research shows that even repeat homebuyers benefit from receiving NeighborWorks pre-purchase housing counseling and education. According to the report, repeat homebuyers who received the services also are about one-third less likely to fall 90 days or more behind in their mortgages than repeat homebuyers who didn’t receive NeighborWorks pre-purchase housing counseling and education.
“More analysis of the data is required to determine the factors for the repeat homebuyer results,” said NeighborWorks America CEO Eileen Fitzgerald. “But one thing is clear from the data: housing counseling is effective, even if you’ve been a homeowner before.”
Last week St. Ambrose was awarded $600,000 for Legal Services through the Attorney General’s Mortgage Servicer Settlement Fund. This week, we received confirmation of another award specifically for Foreclosure Prevention Counseling. More information to come.
Homeownership Director Anthony Parran leading a workshop at St. Ambrose.
St. Ambrose’s Homeownership Counseling Program has released the dates for workshops in 2013. These FREE workshops last 6-hours and count toward meeting HUD’s 8-hour counseling requirement for first-time home buyers.
The workshops and follow-up counseling sessions can also qualify new home buyers for special grants and closing cost assistance programs; for example, Wells Fargo’s CityLIFT incentive in Baltimore.
To register, email Pamela Petty at PamP@stambros.org or call Pamela at 410-366-8550 ext. 222. Registration is required; continental breakfast and lunch provided.
We heard little about the social or “nonprofit” sector during election season, but a deal to avert the so-called “fiscal cliff” is sure to have tangible impacts on charitable organizations in 2013. Questions going forward: How might proposed limits to charitable deductions impact philanthropic giving? How might cuts to domestic spending trickle down to ground-level, organizational budgets? How will nonprofits respond during and after the debate? This Nonprofit Quarterly article provides a thorough description of the nonprofit policy challenges during the next year and is worth a glance…
One takeaway from the “challenges” article: despite the “nonprofit” moniker, 501(C)(3) organizations are economic engines and need to do a better job of pointing that out. St. Ambrose Housing Aid Center employs 40 people who earn real money, and real benefits for the work they put in to St. Ambrose’s services and programs. Nobody runs on good feelings alone; at the end of the day St. Ambrose employees have families to feed, bills to pay, and things to buy just like everyone else.
Don’t fall prey to a misconception; nonprofit organizations are not run by volunteers. Independent Sector, a nonprofit and philanthropic advocacy organization, estimates that 13.5 million nonprofit employees, 10% of the nation’s workforce, were paid $668 billion in wages and benefits in 2009. With more workers than the finance, insurance and real estate industries combined, we are a significant part of the economic food chain.
An organization’s resources come from varied sources. For example, St. Ambrose earns income through the sale of renovated homes; foundation grants and government contracts are tied to specific programs and outcomes. Most importantly, we have a growing group of dedicated donors who believe in our mission and think we are doing a good job at achieving it. What better way to express your vote of confidence in a favorite charity, than by donating online to one today?
St. Ambrose is happy to announce a partnership with Liberty Mutual Insurance and we need your support! The “Like My Community” campaign started on June 25th.
Like My Community is designed to honor organizations that are making a difference in Baltimore with a $30,000 award. Grants like this enable St. Ambrose to continue supporting affordable homes and vibrant communities for hundreds of Baltimore families.
But we need your vote! You can vote daily for St. Ambrose between now and August 20th on the Liberty Mutual Facebook page, and you can text LMBAL5 to 61698 for a second vote.
St. Ambrose recently hosted a happy hour for new homeowners and friends of the agency at the Station North Arts Cafe. We were so grateful that Ms. Shanice Jones, who recently bought a St. Ambrose home, came and met other homeowners and some staff. Here is her uplifting story as told by Belair-Neighborhoods, Inc.
Ms. Shanice Jones and her son, new neighbors in Belair-Edison.
When Ms. Jones came to Belair-Edison Neighborhoods, Inc. (BENI) First Time Home Buyer’s Workshop, back in June of 2011, she knew homeownership was in the very near future. After conducting her one-on-one counseling session with Roy Miller, BENI’s Homeownership Specialist, she knew that Belair-Edison was the neighborhood that she and her 15 year old son would soon call their home! “Mr. Miller was very nice and knowledgeable”, said Jones. “He made me feel comfortable … and reassured me that this was the community for my family.”
With the help of her phenomenal Realtor, Yolanda Powell of Long & Foster, Jones closed on a newly renovated St. Ambrose home on Cliftmont Ave. “The day I closed was move in day too,” said Jones. “My friends and family were waiting for me, outside, with the U-Haul Truck. We were so excited!”
Ms. Jones had been a renter for over 10 years and was somewhat afraid of taking the leap into homeownership. However, she wanted to provide a stable environment for her son. “I want to be an example for my son,” she said. “Not only by teaching him responsibility, but should anything ever happen to me, I want to be able to make sure that his future is taken care of. This is an investment in his future.”
The path to homeownership was a bit of a long one, but that didn’t matter to Jones. She used the time to become fully educated about all of the closing cost assistance she was eligible for and received a large amount of grant assistance.
“I went on the Trolley Tour and spoke with Live Baltimore and Healthy Neighborhoods. I worked with St. Ambrose, and I even received an FHA grant,” said Jones. “I was determined.”
The oldest grandchild on her maternal side, she is the first grandchild to purchase a home. Jones loves being the example for her family and friends. “I tell as many as people as possible about this program,” she said. “I want to help them accomplish their dreams like I have.” What Ms. Jones loves the most about her block, is that it is filled with homeowners. “I was tired of renting from unprofessional landlords who seemed all about just collecting rent and not making me feel like the house I lived in was mine,” said Jones.
“I know that many renters expect the landlords to keep up the property, but it’s important they do their part too,” she said. “Homeowners protect the value of their properties, and that’s what I like about my block.” In addition to the block’s charm, and her homes new renovations, Jones loves her parking pad. “I can just park in the back and bring my groceries right in,” she said. “I don’t ever have to look for a parking space!”
Ms. Jones has big plans in store including finishing up her BA in Accounting at Sojourner-Douglass College, continuing to be a foster parent to young children, helping her son achieve academic success while in High School, and starting her own business! “I am extremely motivated, always trying to accomplish things that will allow my son to have the best quality of life as possible,” Ms. Jones affirmed. Welcome the Joneses to neighborhood!
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