More than 300 Attend Prince George’s County Foreclosure Workshop

OXON HILL, MD – The Prince George’s County Department of Housing and Community Development, along with WHUR 96.3 FM Radio, drew the attention of more than 300 residents this week by hosting a foreclosure seminar entitled, “Protect Your Dream Workshop” at the Oxon Hill Library.

“Homeownership is the center of the American dream.  A house is not just a house.  It is a place where parents and children identify their selves and their homes,” Johnson said when he addressed the participants.  “The Prince George’s County Government is committed to arming you with the right information and assisting with resources to enable you to keep your homes.”

The seminar provided one-on-one counseling from individual housing counseling agencies to more than half of the attendees, who were homeowners in the county facing foreclosure.  Prince George’s County nonprofit housing counseling agencies staffed the workshops.  Strategic partners that provided resources included: U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD); Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development; Sowing Empowerment and Economic Development (SEED); the Greater Washington Urban League; Kairos; Housing Initiative Partnership (HIP); NeighborWorks; Housing Options and Planning Enterprises, Inc. (HOPE); United Communities Against Poverty (UCAP) and Freddie Mac.

“Sometimes the difference between owning a home and keeping a home is what you don’t know,” Prince George’s County Housing Director Thomas Thompson said about foreclosure in the County.  “We are working to help homeowners stay in their homes.”
 
Workshop participants were advised to beware of mortgage rescue scams and not to sign any papers that they do not fully understand.

Due to the growing number of foreclosures in Prince George’s County our County homeowner counseling agencies have agreed to develop a common curriculum to advise homeowners of their options when they are facing foreclosure. The goal is to provide resources for families while working to prevent the loss of homeownership.  Each counseling agency will alternately offer a weekly foreclosure prevention workshop sponsored by the Department of Housing and Community Development.  These workshops will begin on September 13, 2007 at Housing Initiative Partnership offices and rotate throughout the County.  HIP is located at 6525 Belcrest Road, Suite 555, Hyattsville, MD 20782.

For  more information on foreclosure prevention, contact the Prince George’s County Department of Housing and Community Development at 301-883-HOME.