NEW YORK – The Attorney General’s office will fund $1 million in foreclosure prevention services to aid New Yorkers struggling through the foreclosure crisis. Attorney General Eric Schneiderman issued a Request for Applications (RFA) seeking bids from non-profit legal services and legal aid organizations to provide direct legal services to homeowners in foreclosure or at imminent risk of foreclosure.

“As our state faces another tight budget year, we must be creative and aggressive in our efforts to support working families who are struggling to stay in their homes,” said Schneiderman. “This funding will provide thousands of New Yorkers with the legal expertise they desperately need to defend their rights and avoid falling prey to unscrupulous mortgage servicers or foreclosure mill law firms filing fabricated or robosigned documents. My office will continue to use every tool available to us to protect homeowners and all vulnerable New Yorkers.”

Statewide, an average of 1 in 10 mortgages is at risk of foreclosure.  The approximate number of individuals living in homes that are either in foreclosure or at risk of foreclosure (based on typical household size for each distressed mortgage) exceeds the populations of Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse combined. 

While foreclosures come at a high cost for families and communities, preventing foreclosures through legal assistance is a bargain for taxpayers.  The Empire Justice Center projects that if foreclosures of currently distressed properties continue unabated, they will cost local governments in New York State more than $5 billion.  However, for every foreclosure averted, through legal assistance or other measures, counties would save an average of $186,695 in direct and indirect costs.