Chicago Mortgage Advice For Struggling Families

Families facing Illinois mortgage problems have a new place to turn.

“A hospital is a place where it’s OK to be sick, and a church should be too,” maintains Rev. Gregory Seal Livingston, pastor of Mandell United Methodist Church.

According to the Chicago Tribune, Livingston isn’t advocating sniffling and coughing in the pews, but he does want members of his West Side church to feel free to voice any of the “ills” they are experiencing.

So Livingston recently joined about three dozen other Chicago religious leaders in vowing to address their congregations about a growing problem that is difficult for many people to talk about: not being able to pay their home loans.

The effort kicked off with a Home Ownership Preservation Initiative dubbed HOPI Sunday, when pastors provided information from the pulpit about ways people struggling with their mortgage loan can get help, such as calling the city’s 311 line or contacting the non-profit group Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago, or NHS.

That has been followed by a “faith-based summer” program sponsored by NHS and Citibank. On Saturday, financial workshops will be held at Greater Galilee Missionary Baptist Church in the North Lawndale neighborhood and a Citibank office in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood.

About 1,000 city churches, temples and mosques were invited to join the initiative by NHS and the Chicago Housing Department.

Many African-American church leaders on the West and South Sides agreed to participate, saying they welcome the chance to learn of practical channels where their congregants can seek help.

Rev. Steve Spiller of Greater Galilee M.B. said his interest in thwarting the surge in Chicago mortgage foreclosures spreading through the city is partly personal:

“My wife’s grandma had been in her home for 40 years, and people tried to take it,” he said.

A workshop offered at a church, or even in a bank branch suggested by a church leader, inspires greater confidence among financially distressed homeowners, housing officials say.

“We did not want people to turn to so-called ‘rescue’ foreclosure schemes or call the number posted on light poles in their alleys,” said Chicago Housing Department spokeswoman Molly Sullivan.

“Churches have always been a safe ground,” said Bathsheba Wyatt-Draper, a NHS consultant. “People want help with their mortgage problems, but they may not understand all about it and they may have been deceived and they don’t know who to trust.”

Gail Carr, a mother of five, said she was grateful to Spiller for helping her when she was in danger of losing her home a few years ago. He wrote to her landlord, who she said was locking her out illegally, then helped find her another place to live.

Now married and living in a comfortable apartment, Carr says she and her husband want to get a home mortgage and buy a house. They hope to find out how at the Greater Galilee workshop.

At Saturday’s workshops, Citibank officials and NHS counselors will review homeowners’ mortgage situations and suggest possible solutions.

Continue reading in the Chicago Tribune …