Document Type

Report

Publication Date

1-1-2012

Research Center

Center for Community Planning and Development

Abstract

The foreclosure crisis hit Cuyahoga County earlier and harder than the rest of the nation. The crisis continues to weaken the County’s already weak housing market, as evidenced by declining property values, increasing numbers of vacant and abandoned properties and the continuing high rates of foreclosure filings. In 1999, there were 4,900 residential foreclosure filings in Cuyahoga County. That number doubled to about 10,000 by 2005 and peaked in 2007 at close to 14,000. In 2011, the County had just over 11,000 residential foreclosure filings. In total, an estimated 68,000 homes in the County have been “touched” by foreclosure. The cause of foreclosures has changed since 2006, when much of the crisis was caused by predatory lending that was targeted to predominantly African American homeowners.Today foreclosures are predominantly the result of unemployment and loss of income and touch all types of homeowners in every part of the County. Despite a myriad of federal and state programs designed to mitigate the impact of the crisis, including a brief moratorium, the devastating impact on homeowners and communities continues almost unabated. With an estimated 26,000 vacant parcels county-wide sq, and thousands of homeowners losing their homes, the effects of the crisis on the County housing markets and tax base will be long lasting and far reaching.

Download

Share

COinS