America Is Finally Putting Home Foreclosure Crisis Behind It
ATLANTIC CITY, NJ - AUGUST 26: Valencia Terrell looks to an abandoned foreclosed home on August 26, 2015 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Terrell, worked in casino VIP services for years before her home was destroyed in Hurricane Sandy and she had to leave work to take care of family members. She now survives with the aid of food stamps and takes her family members to a soup kitchen for additional meals. After years of decline in Atlantic City, in 2014 some 8,000 people were layed-off when four of the city's major casinos closed, bringing Atlantic City's unemployment rate to more than 11 percent, double the national average. As unemployment assistance has begun to expire for many people, shelters like the Atlantic City Rescue Mission have seen a large jump in need. They serve upwards of 700 meals and house some 300 people a day, including many families. The mass unemployment has produced the highest foreclosure rate of any metropolitan U.S. area, with 1 out of 113 homes now in foreclosure in Atlantic County.
Photographer: John Moore/Getty ImagesIt’s taken nine years, but the number of U.S. homes in foreclosure has fallen to a level not seen since before the 2008 housing crisis.
More troubled borrowers are making their way through the foreclosure process, which can take more than five years on average in some states. The number of properties in active foreclosure declined by 24,000 to 631,000 in March, according to Black Knight Financial Services. That’s the lowest since October 2007. Neighborhoods across the country were in the coming years flooded with more than 2 million notices from banks.