Foreclosure victims to demand money from settlements

People who lost homes to foreclosure will rally Tuesday to demand they get a share of Delaware's settlement money stemming from the 2008 financial meltdown.

Victims Stand Against Foreclosure Everywhere is hosting the event to gather support from public officials and to identify and connect victims of foreclosure.

"We still haven't heard any definitive response to our pleas to legislators to fund programs [for foreclosure victims]," said Penny Dryden, a VSAFE organizer and executive director of the nonprofit Community Housing and Empowerment Connections. "We thought this might make a stronger pitch."

An article in The News Journal in January found that many of the 32,000 Delaware homeowners who were foreclosed on since 2008 have seen little to no money from the state's $200 million in settlements with the nation's largest banks over shoddy lending practices that contributed to the housing crisis.

About half of the money has gone to current homeowners in the form of mortgage modifications or to former homeowners as a small check in the mail.

But, this has not helped people like Robbin and Jeff Brown, members of VSAFE who lost their five-bedroom dream house on Old Baltimore Pike to foreclosure.

The Browns attempted to get a mortgage modification when Jeff lost his job as a millwright at the Chrysler auto plant in Newark in 2009. However, the bank was unwilling to assist and the couple fell victim to a modification scam.

The Browns spoke to The News Journal in January in hope that Delaware's public officials would advocate for the remaining settlement money to go directly to foreclosure victims and their needs.

Instead, they heard nothing from public officials after the story ran, except from U.S. Rep. Tom Marino, a Republican from Pennsylvania, who blasted the government for how the settlements have been spent.

The Joint Finance Committee is still considering a proposal from Attorney General Matt Denn to spend $36.6 million of the settlements on troubled schools and Wilmington's violent streets.

"Delaware should really feel bad that all the officials here don't have a backbone," Robbin Brown said. "They are in office for the people, but they don't say anything."

VSAFE is a new organization led by Community Housing and Empowerment Connections Inc., the National Association of Social Workers Delaware Chapter and Minority Workforce Development Coalition. Foreclosure victims can sign up to join the group on Tuesday.

Contact Jessica Masulli Reyes at 302-324-2777, jmreyes@delawareonline.com or Twitter @JessicaMasulli.

If you go

WHAT: The newly-created Victims Stand Against Foreclosure Everywhere, or VSAFE, will rally to demand Delaware give people who lost their homes to foreclosure money from banking settlements stemming from the 2008 housing and financial crisis. Foreclosure victims will be able to sign up to join the VSAFE support group.

WHERE: International Longshoremen Union Hall, 200 S. Claymont St., Wilmington, Delaware

WHEN: Tuesday, March 31 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

For more information about VSAFE call 302-275-4709