In June 2007, San Antonio administrators recognized the housing crisis in the city. Michael Goeken, director of the city’s Department of Community Initiatives (DCI), took part in the Preserving Homeownership conference held by the Dallas Fed along with the Dallas Field Office of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). After exploring foreclosure alternatives, Goeken returned and presented a grant proposal to the Annie E. Casey Foundation for funding. The grant was awarded, and the San Antonio now heads 24 organizations such as HUD and United Way, in the San Antonio Foreclosure Prevention Task Force whose main aim to to sustain home ownership in the San Antonio area.

DCI selected certain ZIP codes, with a high degree of foreclosures and sent out 14,500 postcards which contained the following message printed in both English and Spanish – “Don’t lose your home. You are not alone. We can help!”. The card contained the phone number to DCI\’s Housing Counseling program which was set up to help and create awareness among homeowners. This resulted in about 250 calls from homeowners concerned with the condition of their home mortgage.

In March, an all state group kicked off the local organization\’s plans. The Texas Foreclosure Prevention Task Force (TFPTF) held a press conference to announce the founding of a statewide task force and to create awareness of the Homeownership Preservation Foundation\’s toll-free help hotline, 888-995-HOPE. The event, which received wide coverage on both radio and television, was attended by almost 50 different state and national organizations and welfare groups. The press conference was a clear statement from the city that the TFPTF was there to help. TFPTF encouraged homeowners to call the HOPE hotline, their lenders or a housing counselor when there was any signs of mortgage payment trouble.

In addition to the press conference, a community workshop was also conducted on the weekend following the event. The workshop, which was held in Northwest Vista College, was targeted at the residents and lenders of the two zipcodes in the city with the highest foreclosure rates. Active lenders and delinquents of more than 60 days were sent invites to participate in the workshop. Several dozen homeowners attended the workshop and interacted with a number of loan services. They were able to discuss their mortgage situation with HUD-approved housing counselors and representatives from several mortgage houses in the area. The counselors were trained to assist and advice homeowners in identifying alternatives to foreclosure and helped address many of the concerns and doubts that the homeowners raised. It is estimated that at least eight workouts could potentially result from the workshop.

According to the TFPTF, more workshops like this will be conducted all over the city and the suburbs, particularly targeting areas with a high foreclosure rate. The workshops are expected to bring down the foreclosure rates significantly in the San Antonio area.

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