HUD Southeast Regional Administrator Integral Component of Regional Foreclosure Initiative

Ed Jennings, Jr. HUD Southeast Regional Administrator.

November 30, 2010 marked a historical date as regional representatives from throughout the Southeast and the Atlanta metro area met to initiate a unique "Piece by Piece" strategy to tackle the foreclosure crisis in the region. Keynote speaker Henry Cisneros, a nationally recognized leader in affordable housing and a previous Secretary of Housing and Urban Development lead off the day's events which included a best practices panel consisting of HUD Southeast Regional Administrator Ed Jennings, Jr., Frank Alexander, Emory School of Law, Maureen Friar, National Housing Conference and Bill Goldsmith, Mercy Portfolio Services.

"This effort today marks the beginning of what I hope will be a historical partnership and effort to innovatively address the regional foreclosure crisis," noted Ed Jennings, Jr.

"The foreclosure crisis is a national crisis as housing consists of over 22% of the GDP and must be corrected if the economy is to really recovery," stated Cisneros.

The regional foreclosure crisis continues with Florida and Georgia leading the way in the region. Georgia ranks sixth nationally in foreclosure filings with metro Atlanta ranked by Forbes as one the nation's emptiest cities due to mounting residential vacancies. The Piece by Piece Foreclosure initiative launch is an effort to collectively merge the leadership, expertise and resources to partner in a effort to "curb the crisis and reclaim our neighborhoods."

Piece by Piece foreclosure initiative was conceived and is being coordinated by leadership team that includes major leaders in the metro and region housing building industry, community support services, finance and regional development organizations. The three key objectives of the initiative are:

1. Provide up to date status of metro Atlanta's foreclosure crisis and ways to take action to help address it;
   
   
2. Offer opportunities for coordination and best practice sharing; and
   
   
3. Encourage public commitments on goals and actions that will be taken over the next three to five years to address the crisis.

The initiative's plan is to build on the efforts of the day and continue to build stronger bonds of partnership while interactively communicating the progress being made to achieve the objectives.

To learn more about foreclosure prevention assistance please go to: http://www.hud.gov/local/ga/homeownership/foreclosure.cfm

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