All Around Pennsauken

By Tracey Howarth, Pennsauken Township Abandoned/Vacant Property Initiative

To start, I wanted to say thank you to our residents that took the time to call and reach out with information, ideas and concerns. We’ve received a lot of positive feedback and great information from you all.  It’s refreshing and exciting to see so many people willing to help and share their ideas.

As Mayor Kneib mentioned in last month’s All Around Pennsauken, tackling the abandoned/vacant property issue is a very important initiative for our town; one that is getting a lot of focus and attention from everyone.

This initiative is happening in phases; phase one was gathering all the needed information to get our property list completed and posted and to understand all of the tools available to attack this issue.

Here are some of the things we have worked on and the progress we have made so far.

In putting together our property list, we needed to understand where the properties are located, how many there are, and in what condition each property is today.  We’ve taken many steps to capture every vacant property in town, including partnering with our code inspection team and driving through town to get as much information as possible, a process that took several days. We’ve also been utilizing our internal information, including property taxes, foreclosure notices and assessor reports, rental properties, and construction projects, just to name a few. In addition, the calls that our residents have made to make sure we had any properties that they were aware of on the list was extremely helpful.

Gathering and listing all of this information is a bit of a moving target, because the number of houses on the list, as well as the addresses on the list, change on almost a daily basis; but together, we’ve developed a system that is easy to use and that any of the departments in the Township can reference when needed.

We are closing in on our completion and will be posting our abandoned property list very soon, so stay tuned. You’ll be able to view it on Pennsauken’s web site, as well as the Retrospect Newspaper, the Township’s paper of record, very shortly.

To understand and implement the many tools available from the county and state, we met with our county partners, as well as some other great organizations, to understand the best tools available for us to tackle this issue. These tools are ever changing; we want to ensure that we are able to properly implement every possible one at our disposal. We then took the time to review our municipal code to make sure we are fully armed with all of the ordinances available to us once we complete our property list.

During our research, we found an opportunity to adopt a violations and penalties ordinance, which allows us to hold the banks and property management companies more financially accountable on a daily basis for the condition of their properties. We are also working to amend our vacant property registration fees, making them more aggressive and again, holding the banks more accountable for their properties.

Now that we are closing in on the completion of phase one, we are beginning to put our ideas and plans together to implement what the Township has learned and take action on these properties. That’s what we’ll talk about in upcoming articles.

In closing, the most important thing we can do is to identify opportunities for our residents to stay in their homes. There are programs that you can take advantage of that can help you ward off foreclosure.

The New Jersey HomeSaver Program, administered by the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Financing Agency, offers eligible homeowners up to $50,000 in financial assistance to help bring their household monthly payment to an affordable level, by using funds to facilitate a refinance, recast, or permanent modification of the first mortgage loan. In order to be eligible for the program, homeowners must first meet specific criteria, such as having a first mortgage loan-to-value (LTV) ratio that is 115 percent or greater, and suffering a financial hardship (such as unemployment or a severe loss of income through no fault of your own) that has caused or will cause you to fall behind on your mortgage payment. You can find out about all of the necessary criteria and get more information on the entire program by visiting NJHomeSaver.com.

For those that are not eligible for the New Jersey HomeSaver Program, there are still options. New Jersey residents can get free help from a HUD-Certified Housing Counseling Agency. The New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency has compiled a list of such agencies in Camden County. For more information, visit NJHousing.gov/foreclosure or call (800) NJHOUSE.

There’s also the Stabilizing Urban Neighborhoods Initiative, or SUN for short. This program helps homeowners facing eviction or foreclosure repurchase their homes with mortgages they can afford. SUN is currently accepting applications in New Jersey. Homeowners can find out if they are eligible by calling SUN toll-free at (855) 604-4663 or by visiting SUNHomeHelp.org.

If you are struggling or if you know you may be facing financial hardships in the near future, DON’T WAIT! Please call these numbers and reach out for help. We know it can be frightening and many people feel embarrassed by it, but there are programs to help. The longer you wait, the harder it is to get help.

As always, if you have any questions or ideas, please reach out. I can be reached at (856) 665-1000 ext. 145 or thowarth@twp.pennsauken.nj.us.