Plans to Purchase Foreclosed Units Delayed by Bureaucratic Bungling

Foreclosure Bureaucracy

Plans of purchasing foreclosed properties by Fairfax County has been delayed thanks to bureaucratic bungling. It is now a year since the plan had been sanctioned and funds provided to buy, refurbish and sell or rent foreclosed houses to needy applicants.

This was part of a broader scheme that had been launched last summer to fight increasing foreclosures. If the sailing had been smooth the county would have bought by this time at least 10 of the most affected vacant units and got them ready for sale on a no-profit basis.

At that time Gerry Connolly was the chairman. He set the plan rolling with high hopes about stalling foreclosures that were leading to fall in real estate. It was hoped that the middle class would benefit by moving into affordable homes.

Today the supervisors are blaming the staff of the county administration for this delay. There are groups watching each other to make the first move regarding marking out the properties to be bought.

Dranesville District Supervisor John Foust complained that it was very frustrating that such a chance to improve the health of the county has been allowed to drift by. Connolly has been replaced by Sharon Bulova as the chairperson. She is hopeful about the quick execution of the plan.

Even those who were initially skeptical about how far such small steps would go to solve such big problems were critical about the inaction of the department. Jeff McKay the district supervisor of Lee District said that 10 homes would not solve the jumbo sized problem of the county where there are over 1 million residents. He said, “The more global issue here is our department of housing has not delivered on a promise that was made to the board and money that was approved. I never really felt like they got the ‘sense of urgency’ part in dealing with the foreclosure crisis.”

In March there were 1,566 foreclosure postings in Fairfax County. It was less than the previous months. Officials think that this was due to the artificial moratoriums that had been imposed by the lenders. The sale in starter homes had also picked up.

HUD recently bided for a Herndon house only to find out that there were more than twelve other private bidders. The ultimate goal is to see that the houses are repaired and made habitable to bring back the health of the county.