I’ve been talking lately to a few folks about organizing some actions around Chicago foreclosures, as a way of getting at larger discussions of wealth inequality. In fact, I made a public call last night on the Day After panel in Cambridge for stats such as those listed below. Here’s what Kristen Cox has so far come up with:
Chicago is now showing record levels of foreclosed homes, according to a listings firm, with 15,752 homes joining the ranks of bank-owned properties in the third quarter of 2008. (Published Oct 2008)
Illinois is one of top ten states in foreclosure rates. (Sept 2008)
For the fourth year in a row, the Chicago metro area led the nation in high-cost loans by volume with 60,568. These targeted primarily people of color. (Sept 2008) More Loan for the Same Home, Chicago Reporter.
Foreclosure rates nationally are at record highs. In May 2008, nearly 6,000 foreclosures were filed in Cook County alone, an increase of over 57% from May of 2007. In Cook County, one out of every 362 homes is in foreclosure. Statewide, foreclosures have risen nearly 58% during the second quarter of 2008, and one out of every 193 homes is in foreclosure. (Sept 2008)
Todd Stroger pushing for state-wide moratorium on foreclosures.
RealtyTrac, according to their map of Chicago, Cook Cty has 56,345 homes undergoing foreclosure. One in every 475 households in the Chicago metro area received a foreclosure filing in February 2008, the second highest foreclosure rate among five of the nation’s largest metropolitan areas. Chicago’s foreclosure rate was higher than the foreclosure rates in New York, Philadelphia and Dallas, but lower than the foreclosure rates in Los Angeles. (March 2008)
Illinois posts nation’s fifth highest foreclosure total (jan 2007)
Illinois reported 6,903 new foreclosure filings in December, an increase of 14 percent from the previous month and the fifth highest number documented by any state. The state’s foreclosure rate of one new foreclosure filing for every 708 households was 1.5 times the national average.
New foreclosure filings nationwide totaled 109,652 in December, a decrease of nearly 9 percent from the previous month and a foreclosure rate of one new foreclosure filing for every 1,055 households. U.S. foreclosure activity was still up nearly 35 percent from December 2005.
The RealtyTrac Monthly U.S. Foreclosure Market Report provides the total number of homes in some stage of foreclosure nationwide, statewide and by county in the Chicago Metropolitan Statistical Area Division over the preceding month. RealtyTrac’s report includes properties in all three phases of foreclosure: Pre-foreclosures – Notice of Default (NOD) and Lis Pendens (LIS); Foreclosures – Notice of Trustee Sale and Notice of Foreclosure Sale (NTS and NFS); and Real Estate Owned, or REO properties (that have been foreclosed on and repossessed by a bank).
Tags: Chicago, Cook County, foreclosures, wealth inequality
