• February 21, 2013
• Distressed Loans in Ohio: Recent Trends
• In October 2010, not long after the Home Affordable Mortgage Program (HAMP) was implemented to help address the increasing numbers of distressed loans, we published an analysis of Ohio loan modifications that were performed between 2008 and 2010. Two years later, we update and extend this analysis to include both a broader set of loss-mitigation tools and the performance of underwater loans. We find that the share of Ohio loans entering delinquency continues to decline, the self-cure rate has increased since 2009, and loan modifications continue to represent a path out of distress for a very small fraction of delinquent loans. Read more

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• November 22, 2011
• Community Stabilization Index: June 2011

• What's the recovery potential for your community? The Cleveland Fed recently revised a tool we call the Community Stabilization Index, a compilation of data that provides counties with a relative measure of local housing market conditions at the zip code level. The focus of the index is recovery potential. We just added maps for the index for three counties to our website?Allegheny County, PA (Pittsburgh), Hamilton, OH (Cincinnati), and Stark County, OH (Canton). How can these maps help community leaders? One possible use is supporting or guiding city officials and funders on where to allocate scarce resources. The maps can also be used by banks to better understand conditions in their markets. Read more

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• October 19, 2010
• Mortgage Delinquencies in Ohio: Are Loan Modifications Stemming the Tide?
• While relatively few delinquent loans in Ohio are being modified, recent modifications appear to be more successful than past ones. Still, the small percentage of seriously delinquent loans being modified in Ohio, coupled with declining self-recovery rates, suggests that current policy efforts have not been able to effectively cope with the foreclosure crisis to date. Read more

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• June 01, 2010
• Federal Reserve Bank of New York - Dynamic Mortgage Maps
• County-level maps of mortgage performance and other credit condition data updated on a quarterly basis. Read more

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• December 02, 2009
• FHA Lending in Ohio
• This report analyzes Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans in Ohio between 2005 and 2008. It provides an answer to the concern that FHA-insured loans have become "the next subprime." Read more

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• August 03, 2009
• Subprime Loan Report for Youngstown
• Read about seven findings that characterize Youngstown's subprime market. Foreclosure filings, delinquency rates, subprime loan originations, and more in the latest issue of A Look Behind the Numbers. Read more

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• April 08, 2009
• Subprime Loan Report for Pittsburgh
• This report compares data on the performance of subprime home mortgage loans in the Pittsburgh Core Based Statistical Area, Pennsylvania, and the Fourth Federal Reserve District through 2008. Overall, the performance of subprime loans in Pittsburgh has been mixed in comparison with other parts of the Fourth District. Read more

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• March 27, 2009
• CRA Lending in the 4th District
• Our examination of CRA lending in the Fourth District found that, similar to findings at the national level, CRA-regulated institutions provided a relatively small share of all loans within the district and an even smaller percentage of the riskier high-cost loans. But we also found some intriguing differences. When we narrowed our focus to particular counties in our district, we saw that the extent of high-cost lending by independent mortgage companies was much greater in the two Ohio counties we examined than in Pennsylvania's Allegheny County. Read more

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• November 07, 2008
• Foreclosure Patterns in Allegheny County, PA
• This is the second report in a series that looks at the geographic distribution of foreclosures in counties located within the Federal Reserve's Fourth District. In this report we focus on Allegheny County, home to the city of Pittsburgh. While it appears that foreclosures have not cut as devastating a path through this county as through some others in the District, such as Cuyahoga County, Ohio, the subject of our initial report, they are nevertheless a problem. Read more

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• November 01, 2008
• Subprime Loan Report for Cleveland and the Fourth District
• This report compares data on the performance of subprime loans in the Cleveland metropolitan area and the Fourth Federal Reserve District. Overall, the performance of subprime loans in Cleveland has been weaker than in other parts of the Fourth District. Read more

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• August 25, 2008
• A Look at Foreclosure Filings in Cuyahoga County
• Northeast Ohio’s Cuyahoga County, home to the city of Cleveland, has been called the epicenter of the nation’s foreclosure crisis. While effects of the crisis are being felt in regions across the country, Cuyahoga County has consistently been listed at or near the top of areas hit hardest by foreclosure. Why? (PDF)

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• April 02, 2008
• Foreclosure Data and Maps
• The Community Affairs research team is starting to look at and map foreclosure-related data within the MSAs and counties of our district. These data and maps can be useful to a range of organizations, including community groups, policy makers, and local government, for use in identifying trouble spots and deciding where to direct resources. Read more

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Foreclosure Mitigation Toolkit for Communities

Ohio

Ohio’s Save the Dream

Provides a full range of foreclosure-related resources on homeownership counseling, servicer contacts, and the foreclosure process.

Don't Borrow Trouble

Cuyahoga County’s foreclosure prevention program

See all tools for Ohio

Pennsylvania

NeighborWorks Western Pennsylvania

NeighborWorks Western Pennsylvania offers an array of counseling services on topics ranging from homeownership and credit restoration to foreclosure mitigation.

Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency

This organization aims to educate consumers about their options when faced with foreclosure; the site also contains contact information for foreclosure mitigation counseling agencies throughout Pennsylvania.

See all tools for Pennsylvania

Kentucky

REACH, Inc.

Kentucky Homeownership Protection Center

See all tools for Kentucky

West Virgina

West Virginia Division of Banking

The West Virginia Division of Banking’s website offers information and other resources on mortgages and credit, as well as specifics on how to file a complaint against an institution they supervise.

See all tools for West Virginia

• October 25, 2010
• Addressing the Impact of the Foreclosure Crisis: Federal Reserve Mortgage Outreach and Research Efforts
• Since the start of the financial crisis, the Federal Reserve System has undertaken a series of well publicized and unprecedented actions to help stabilize the mortgage and financial markets and promote economic recovery. What is less well known is that the Federal Reserve has also been working to respond to the foreclosure crisis on "Main Street," leveraging its research, community affairs and supervision and regulation functions to support innovative foreclosure prevention and neighborhood stabilization strategies at the local level. Read more

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• September 01, 2010
• REO & Vacant Properties: Strategies for Neighborhood Stabilization

• The foreclosure crisis that the nation continues to grapple with has led to scores of real-estate-owned, or REO, properties. These and other vacant properties erode the values of nearby houses, fracture neighborhood stability, and threaten to undo decades of economic progress made in communities across the country over the past 25 years. How big is the REO problem? How are communities, banks, and policymakers dealing with the challenge? Most important, what approaches are showing the most promise for success? Read more

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• July 23, 2009
• Summary of Findings: Design and Testing of Truth in Lending Disclosures for Closed-end Mortgages
• In support of the review Regulation Z provisions related to closed-end mortgage credit, the Board contracted with ICF Macro to conduct consumer testing of current and proposed mortgage disclosures. The project was a collaborative effort with DCCA staff. Results of testing to date are summarized in ICF Macro's report. Read more

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• July 23, 2009
• Summary of Findings: Consumer Testing of Mortgage Broker Disclosures
• In support of the Board's final rules under Regulation Z and the Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act (HOEPA) to prohibit unfair and deceptive practices in the mortgage market, the Board contracted with ICF Macro to conduct consumer testing of a proposed disclosure for mortgage brokers. Results from the testing contributed to the Board's decision to withdraw the proposed disclosure. The project was a collaborative effort with DCCA staff. Read more

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• June 01, 2009
• Residential Housing and Personal Bankruptcy
• Bankruptcies are on the rise and millions of households have either loss their homes to foreclosure or are on the verge of losing them. A subject of debate is how personal bankruptcy law deals with residential housing. How do laws affect the available of mortgages and the terms of those mortgages? This article reviews the literature on these issues. Read more

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• May 01, 2009
• An Indicator Analysis to Identify Potential Vacant Residential Properties
• We present here the construction of a vacant and abandoned property indicator system. The goal was to use data that would likely be readily available, and methods that would be easily replicable to produce an indicator that would be useful in understanding the state of a city's housing. (PDF)

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• February 01, 2009
• Seismic Effects of the Bankruptcy Reform
• The authors analyze changes to bankruptcy law in 2005 and argue that it shifted risk from credit card lenders to mortgage lenders and that this contributed to the increase in subprime foreclosures. Read more

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• December 15, 2008
• The Accumulation of Foreclosed Properties
• A key concern among policymakers and community developers during the ongoing mortgage crisis has been the extent to which lender-owned homes, often called real-estate-owned or "REO" properties have been accumulating in different local housing markets. This paper describes the accumulation of REO properties in metropolitan areas across the United States from August 2006 to August 2008. Read more

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• November 26, 2008
• Lending on Low-and Moderate-Income Neighborhoods in California: The Performance of CRA Lending During the Subprime Meltdown
• The authors analyze the performance of loans originated in California by CRA-regulated and non­CRA-regulated financial institutions. They find that loans by CRA-regulated institutions performed better than those made by independent mortgage companies, controlling for a wide range of borrower, loan and lender characteristics. Read more

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• November 01, 2008
• Spatial Analysis of the Impact of Vacant, Abandoned and Foreclosed Properties
• Healthy housing markets lay the foundation for community vitality. A strong local housing market is evidence that households are invested in their neighborhoods, both financially and figuratively. A city of strong neighborhoods breeds a confidence among households, businesses, developers, and community leaders that spills over into the city's economy in general. A housing market in crisis, on the other hand, could be foretelling of a city in despair. (PDF)

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• October 01, 2008
• The Mortgage Debacle and Loan Modifications
• In today’s increasingly sophisticated financial markets, loan modifications are often complex processes that involve multiple players with competing legal and financial interests. To better understand loan modifications, the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland hosted a one-day workshop in November 2007 featuring four financial and legal experts who shared their knowledge and recommendations for possible solutions to the mortgage lending debacle. (PDF)

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• September 01, 2008
• Synopses of Selected Research on Housing, Mortgages, and Foreclosures
• The contributions in this document are synopses of key findings from research and Federal Reserve System policy analysis on selected topics relating to housing, mortgage loan performance, and foreclosures. A goal of the project is to leverage the knowledge, expertise, and national reach of the Federal Reserve System to develop responses to the sharp rise of mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures. (PDF)

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• August 27, 2008
• A Snapshot of Mortgage Conditions with an Emphasis on Subprime Mortgage Performance
• This document provides facts and figures that pertain to the recent increase in mortgage foreclosures. The data are provided to help readers understand the source, scope, and scale of this increase. (PDF)

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• October 01, 2007
• Spotlight on Research: What Happens to Subprime Defaults
• Read more

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• December 03, 2006
• Foreclosures: Relationship Lending in the Consumer Market and its Aftermath
• Relationship lending theory suggests that lenders in close proximity to their borrowers might be the most efficient providers of screening and monitoring services, because the cost of collecting information declines with distance. The author presents evidence that ties bank branch presence to borrower performance in the low-income housing market, which provides support for this theory. (PDF)

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• September 01, 2006
• Fed-Led Research Reveals Need to Better Twin Cities Foreclosure Data
• Read more

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• September 19-20, 2013
• 2013 Policy Summit on Housing, Human Capital, and Inequality 
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• Join us this September as we present research and practitioner sessions on the changing role of regulations in economic and community development; registration opens March 1. Attendees include academics, bankers, elected officials, practitioners, and policymakers.
• April 16, June 18, & August 20, 2013
• Small Communities, Big Challenges: A 2013 Series on Problem Properties 
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• Vacant and abandoned properties remain a major challenge facing municipalities across the region. To help get knowledge and resources to combat this problem into the hands of city officials, practitioners, and funders, the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland has partnered with Greater Ohio Policy Center to host a series of events and webinars in 2013. Three one-hour webinars?to be held in April, June, and August?will showcase specific strategies local and regional government officials and community development organizations can use to help stabilize and restore Ohio neighborhoods. And a capstone event is scheduled for October in Columbus. Participation in the webinars is free, but registration for each session is required.
• March 29, 2013
• Call for Papers: 2013 Policy Summit 
• The Federal Reserve Banks of Cleveland and Philadelphia invite paper submissions for their 11th annual Policy Summit, to be held September 19-20, 2013, in Cleveland, Ohio.
  
  Understanding the potential intended and unintended effects of regulations is critical for their success as policy implementation tools. For this reason, the focus of this year's conference is on consumer finances and the new regulatory environment. We encourage the submission of papers in the areas of household balance sheets, consumer finances, the regulation of consumer financial products and consumer financial markets, consumer and small business lending, the role of information disclosure and consumer education, low income housing, student loans and related topics.
• June 28-29, 2012
• 2012 Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland Policy Summit on Housing, Human Capital, and Inequality 
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• The 10th annual Cleveland Fed Policy Summit will focus on effective strategies to strengthen and rebuild communities. With neighborhoods and entire regions struggling to regain their footing in the wake of a housing crisis and economic recession, now is a critical time to implement rebuilding strategies that work. What are the most effective strategies, particularly in older industrial cities and the weaker-market regions that surround them? How is the impact of programs best measured? And where should community leaders direct ever-scarcer funds to gain the greatest effect?
• June 20, 2012
• Connecting to Markets Series: Exploring Low-Income Neighborhoods in the Regional Context 
• Join us in Pittsburgh for the part three of the Connecting to Markets Series. National and regional panels take on some of the hard questions around low-income neighborhood connections to the regional economy. How effective are these strategies on the ground? Taken together, can they produce a meaningful increase to the contribution of urban core neighborhoods to regional economic activity? How have community developers taken advantage of neighborhood assets to advance their communities' economic presence?
• May 9-11, 2012
• Reinventing Older Communities: Building Resilient Cities 
• Join the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia at the Reinventing Older Communities conference. This year will feature stimulating discussions and engaging debates on ways to leverage the assets of cities to create new economic activity and spur innovation. Learn how urban demographics are changing, how local governments are managing the fiscal crisis, how new and proposed regulations will benefit consumers and communities, and how foundations are adopting new strategies as the economic recovery continues. Co-sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
• March 23, 2012
• Access to Capital and Credit: Strengthening Rural Businesses 
• At this all-day conference lenders will learn about government-guaranteed loan programs and other resources to increase small business lending in Kentucky. Entrepreneurs are welcome to attend and learn how they could be better prepared loan applicants and meet potential lenders. Speakers will include Congressman Hal Rogers, Appalachian Regional Commission Chair Earl Gohl, Community Development Financial Institution Chair Donna Gambrell, Deputy Undersecretary for Rural Development Doug O'Brien and representatives from Community Ventures Corporation, Kentucky Highlands Investment Corporation and Mountain Association for Community Economic Development, among others.
• January 23, 2012
• Neighborhoods and Housing Markets: Comprehensive Community Development in the Metropolitan Context 
• This panel will explore ways in which neighborhoods within metropolitan areas are linked to one another through flows of population and investment from neighborhood to neighborhood, and how regional policymakers and community developers can work together to influence these flows to produce better neighborhoods and regions. New data tabulations that explore some of the inter- and intra-metropolitan differences in housing markets will help provide a framework for both the national and regional discussions. The national panel discussion will be streamed live to all satellite locations and will be followed by a regional discussion at each satellite location.
• October 12, 2011
• The First Convening of Ohio Land Banks 
• This conference is intended to provide technical information and strategies to build the capacity of existing county land banks and to facilitate the creation of new ones. Topics that will be covered include acquiring, maintaining and demolishing properties through a county land bank, best practices utilized by existing county land banks, a discussion of existing funding solutions, potential new legislation, data use and collection, and demolition funding after NSP.
• October 7, 2011
• Loss Mitigation Training: Federal Programs Explained 
• On October 7 the Community Development team brought together servicers and a number of agencies that administer loss-mitigation programs, including HUD, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and OHFA (the Ohio Housing Finance Agency) for two purposes. First to inform counselors of GSE loss-mitigation policies, and second to better understand the obstacles to helping more people remain in their homes. Event specifics include a presentation made by Michael Pires, Assistant Grant Manager, OHFA on the challenges to spending Ohio's allotment of Hardest Hit Funds, as well as a loss-mitigation report prepared by Summer 2011 Intern Joseph Joyce based on a survey of housing counseling agencies earlier this year.
• June 9-10, 2011
• 2011 Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland Policy Summit: A Conference on Housing, Human Capital, and Inequality 
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• The Cleveland Fed's 9th annual Policy Summit draws an audience of several hundred researchers, practitioners, policymakers, funders, elected and legislative officials, and bankers from across the Great Lakes region. This year's conference will focus on housing, inequality, neighborhoods, and labor market issues, with special attention given to the impact of the foreclosure crisis.
• April 28-29, 2011
• 2011 Federal Reserve Community Affairs Research Conference 
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• The seventh Federal Reserve Community Affairs Research Conference, "The Changing Landscape of Community Development," was held April 28-29, 2011, in Arlington, VA. The conference, sponsored jointly by the Community Affairs Offices of the Federal Reserve System, highlighted new research in community development, and included keynote remarks by Chairman Ben Bernanke and Jeffrey Sachs, author of The End of Poverty.
• April 11, 2011
• REO Servicing in the Mortgage Crisis: A Foundation for Dialogue and Collaboration 
• This one-day session will brought experts from different perspectives to inform attorneys, code enforcement practitioners and policy makers about REO property trends, the shadow inventory, and the costs of REO to communities and to the servicing industry. Sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland and the Urban Development Law Clinic at the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law.
• October 13-15, 2010
• Reclaiming Vacant Properties 
• The National Vacant Properties Campaign brings their annual conference to Cleveland this Fall. Join hundreds from across the country to learn about policies, tools, and strategies to catalyze long-term sustainable revitalization. The Cleveland Fed is a co-sponsor and member of the host committee.
• September 1-2, 2010
• REOs and Vacant Properties: Strategies for Neighborhood Stabilization 
• The summit will be held at the Federal Reserve Board in Washington, D.C. Sponsored by the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and the Federal Reserve Banks of Boston and Cleveland.
• June 9-10, 2010
• 2010 Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland Policy Summit 
• 

• With the foreclosure crisis still playing out in communities across the country, the time has never been more critical for discussions of our nation's housing policy, including how and whether homeownership and rental housing should be subsidized. This year's policy summit convened top administrators from HUD and other regulatory agencies, researchers from universities and think tanks, and experts in the field of community development for dynamic presentations of current research, reform proposals, and avid discourse on these timely topics.

• May 12-14, 2010
• Philadelphia Fed’s biennial "Reinventing Older Communities" conference 
• The fourth Reinventing Older Communities conference focused on reinventing older communities in the wake of the foreclosure crisis and the federal government's economic stimulus programs. The conference brought together some of the nation's leading policymakers, community developers, bankers, researchers, funders, planners, and government representatives.
• October 8, 2009
• Reconsidering the American Dream 
• Part of the "Building Our Future Beyond Foreclosure" series held at Cleveland State University's Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs. Ruth Clevenger, Vice President & Community Affairs Officer at the Cleveland Fed, was a member of the panel.
• August 13, 2009
• Facing the Mortgage Crisis: The Big Picture 
• Attend a free discussion to look at the impact of the mortgage crisis on central Ohio and to see what you can do to help. Will be held in Columbus, OH.
• June 10, 2009
• The 2009 Community Development Policy Summit 
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• The 7th annual policy summit sparked lively debates on the topics of homeownership, GSEs, and the Community Reinvestment Act. Check out the video interviews, presentations, and more.
• May 15, 2009
• Neighborhood Indicators for Recovery 
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• Limited resources and the ongoing foreclosure crisis make strategic planning for recovery crucial. At this stage of the game, data and tools aimed at helping community leaders make informed decisions are enormously valuable. In this seminar, experts in the field presented several composite indicators based on public and private data, and discussed the methodological issues to consider in their application.
• April 23, 2009
• Building our Future Beyond Foreclosure 
• This Cleveland State University sponsored event is part of a series that examines new strategies, tactics, and projects that are, creative, environmentally sustainable, and invigorating to the marketplace.