The US economy is far from the recovery track. Unemployment is still on an all-time high. As people lose jobs, even those with excellent credit scores are faltering on mortgage payments. Hence, foreclosures have become common.
The scenario is gradually becoming pathetic. Take, for instance, the Heath Avenue building. It was foreclosed upon when Milbank was unable to pay the mortgage amount of $35 million. When the house was foreclosed, the tenants have been left to fend for themselves. A resident of the house, Frank Jenkins, said that he had to step over debris in order to check the hole on the rooftop.

Conditions have been deteriorating for sometime now. There have been 900 violations on the building. Now the tenants have approached the lawyers who have come up with a novel plan to make banks pay for the repair and upkeep of the building. Legal Services-NYC has filed a petition with the State Supreme Court that would make Wells Fargo to pay for the building’s repair.
Ms Quinn, who formed a task force, says, “If you are the bank that lent money to someone you shouldn’t have and those people walk away from those buildings, the clear result would be that the bank is on the hook. The games of delay and passing the buck are no longer going to be tolerated.”
Experts say that at least 4,700 flats in many buildings have been foreclosed upon. About 110,000 apartments are in risk of foreclosure. Ms Quinn calls this “a lost world of ownership.”
When a foreclosure happens, the court elects a receiver, who maintains the foreclosed properties. However, in many buildings, the rents just do not cover maintenance. Repairs cannot be even considered. Subsequently, buildings are not able to sustain themselves.

“The building is falling apart, and the banks are saying, ‘What do you want us to do?’ ” says Dina Levy, the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board employee. “Well, they’re responsible. They put the buildings underwater; now they’re the one who are going to have to fix it.”

It was at the peak of the housing boom that Milbank Real Estate bought properties in the lower middle class neighborhoods of New York. It wanted to throw out the old tenants and bring in people who would agree to pay higher rent. Plans were afoot to renovate the building too. The problem was an atrocious one that could not be handled.

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