In the past, only those who failed to pay property taxes ran the risk of losing their property to foreclosure.
But Monday, the city began auctioning more than 2,500 properties with overdue tax, water or garbage bills as homeowners cut last-minute deals with the city to pay what they owed.
A handful of protesters gathered outside the auction site, saying the city's most vulnerable residents were at risk. Some people threatened with foreclosure had bank balances of $100 or less, attorneys who volunteered to help them said.
A typical homeowner pays about $170 per year in garbage fees and about $400 for water.
Umar Wilson's home of nearly 40 years was scheduled to be auctioned off over $497 in unpaid garbage fees. Wilson's son, Umar Wilson Jr., said his elderly father paid his property tax but fell short when it came to the extra garbage collection fee, which the city imposed in 1996. A $440 foreclosure fee pushed his father's bill to nearly $1,000.
"Hopefully, we'll save the property and come up with a resolution," Wilson Jr. said Monday while waiting to apply for a court order to prevent the home's sale.
Attorneys from the city and several charity legal groups were being made available at no charge to help homeowners arrange payment plans and obtain court stays. Officials estimated that about 800 of the homes up for auction over the next three days were owner-occupied.
"The city really went out of its way to help," he said.
Other homes were taken off the auction block after their owners put as little as $20 down and promised to pay $20 to $50 a month, said David Chadwick, housing attorney for Legal Services for the Elderly.
Even so, "there will be a senior foreclosed upon who owes less than the foreclosure fee," he predicted. As of Monday, he said, the agency had helped about 100 people delay the sale of their homes, with most owing between $1,200 and $1,600.
"Our fear is that there are people out there who are not availing themselves of our services, and next week we're going to get people calling us wondering why somebody's knocking on the door saying they just bought their house," said Karen Nicolson, the agency's executive director.
Noble said the city, whose budget problems led the state to impose a financial control board, is owed more than $7 million in unpaid garbage fees and more than $10 million in uncollected water fees.
"We have a budget problem in the city and we need to recoup what is out there," he said.
Bonnie Cofield, 62, said she did not pay her garbage bills out of protest, believing trash pickup should be included in property taxes.
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