Home foreclosure crisis continues

By Laura Bischoff | Thursday, July 8, 2010, 11:39 AM

Ohio ranks 9th among the 50 states in troubled mortgages, a report by the Lender Processing Services Inc. shows.

Based on May 2010 figures, 9.5 percent of all mortgages in Ohio are 30 days or more delinquent and another 3.5 percent are in foreclosure. That means, in Ohio, 13 percent of mortgages are non-current compared with 12.4 percent nationwide.

The data prompted housing advocates to call on lawmakers to return to Columbus and pass legislation that addresses foreclosures. Lawmakers went on break before adopting three pending bills that deal with tenant protection reform, mortgage service regulations, court mediation and foreclosure prevention counseling.

Delinquencies hit a high of 10.9 percent in January and tapered off slightly this spring. But the combination of more homeowners entering delinquency and fewer getting current on their payments has housing advocates worried.

“These two trends together mean it’s almost as bad as ever,” said Bill Faith, executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio. “It does not bode well for stabilization of the market.”

Ohio had nearly 90,000 foreclosures in 2009 and another 70,000 mortgages are in the pipeline for foreclosure, Faith said.