20,000 to 25,000 renters in NJ at risk
On Sunday January 18, 2010, the Star-ledger published a article entitled – Foreclosure-based evictions leave many renters homeless. To read the full article click here.
According to the article: “Some 20,000 to 25,000 renters were among those affected when more than 60,000 New Jersey properties went into foreclosure last year, housing experts estimate. Single-family homes, duplexes and complexes all spit out families who had no idea their landlord was even in default.”
This is occurring even with new laws prohibiting this type of eviction. Unless the new owner of their building is moving in, they not only can stay but can renew their leases.
This situation is one more example of why we need an effective statewide plan to end homelessness.
The following is a few paragraphs from the article.
“Realtors, lenders and property managers are all taking advantage of the fact that tenants don’t know their rights,” said state Public Advocate Ronald K. Chen, whose office handled complaints from more than 200 tenants, including Battles, who said they were unfairly treated in foreclosure cases last year.
“It’s all over the state. Realtors seem to be the biggest offenders in the suburbs and rural areas, and lenders, lawyers and management companies” are misinforming tenants in the cities, Chen said. “When we challenge them, they claim they didn’t know they were violating tenants’ rights. That is inexcusable.”
In a Housing and Urban Development survey last year, 2,000 New Jersey adults said they were homeless because they had been forced from their apartments. While some, no doubt, had been evicted legally for nonpayment, the HUD survey concluded foreclosure-based evictions accounted for much of the 70 percent increase in the number of homeless former renters.
“A lot of homeless people are being shoved out of their buildings, and it is even worse for new immigrants who may have trouble with English and don’t have leases,” said Victor Salvo, director of Newark NOW, the storefront nonprofit referral agency down the street from Battles’ apartment. “They feel they have no choice but to leave.”
To read the full article click here.
