Mayor Menino Engages Youth to Help City with Up-Keep of Foreclosed Properties

October 26, 2010

by Bank of America

Calls Partnership With Teens from Catholic Charities, Dorchester Youth Collaborative, Opportunity to Teach Civic Leadership

Boston, MA – October 26, 2010 – (RealEstateRama) — Mayor Thomas M. Menino and members of his Foreclosure Intervention Team today visited a city-owned foreclosed home in Dorchester where a group of local teens, dubbed the “Mayor’s Clean Team,” who are helping the City maintain foreclosed properties, were cleaning the property of debris and trash, landscaping the grounds, and performing minor repairs to the house’ exterior. The single-family property at 40 Mountain Avenue is being readied for sale through a Request for Proposals (RFP) process to a developer to be rehabbed and sold to a homebuyer.

“Foreclosure is an issue that has affected some of our neighborhoods more than others. This is a great way to engage our young people in a meaningful employment opportunity that teaches about civic responsibility and helps the City do its job of restoring stability to the communities hardest hit by the housing crisis,” Mayor Menino said. “I often say, government can’t do it alone – we need the help of the community. I want to thank Catholic Charities and Dorchester Youth Collaborative for their partnership on this issue.”

The Mayor’s Clean Team, made up of a group of youth between the ages of 18 and 24 whom have been selected from either a G.E.D. program at Dorchester Youth Collaborative or from Catholic Charities’ Teen Center at St. Peters Parish, has been created to engage youth in leadership activities that provide opportunities to become active and responsible citizens in their neighborhood. Participants will help the City maintain foreclosed properties in Roxbury, Dorchester and Mattapan at least once a week by providing landscaping services, performing light maintenance work, and disposing of trash, for which they will be paid an hourly wage. As the weather turns colder, the Team will help the City clear snow from foreclosed properties. Participants will be trained and supervised by a team leader from both participating organizations.

Boston’s Foreclosure Intervention Team began acquiring bank-owned properties in early 2008 in an effort to stabilize neighborhoods disproportionately affected by foreclosures. Since that time, the City’s own efforts have spurred nonprofits and small developers, as well as homebuyers to purchase and rehab a number of foreclosed properties.

To date, 137 bank-owned properties (out of total 963 foreclosed homes currently in Boston) are in process of being redeveloped, for a total of 297 housing units restored to the housing market. A breakdown of these numbers is as follows:

57 bank-owned homes (97 units) have been purchased and/or renovated by homebuyers with assistance from the City of Boston.
29 bank-owned homes (86 units) have been acquired and/or renovated by private developers or non-profits with assistance from the City of Boston.
The City of Boston has acquired 51 bank-owned homes (114 units) to sell to responsible developers, non-profits or homebuyers, of which 4 properties have been sold and have completed construction.

More information about the City’s foreclosure prevention and intervention initiative can be found at www.cityofboston.gov/dnd

Contact:
Mayor’s Press Office
Press.Office (at) cityofboston (dot) gov