Bills stuck in Legislature as home foreclosures rise
Associated Press
DAYTON
About 90,000 foreclosures have been filed in Ohio in the past year while bills intended to stabilize the housing market remain stalled in the state Legislature, a newspaper reported Sunday.
Foreclosures across Ohio totaled 24,711 in the first quarter of 2010, a 9 percent increase over the same period last year, according to the Dayton Daily News.
State Rep. Mike Foley, a Democrat from Cleveland, said he is frustrated that two of his bills to address the problem are going nowhere with the Republican- controlled Senate. Democrats, who have a majority in the House, passed his bills last May.
One of the bills would impose a $750 fee for filing a residential foreclosure action and declares a six-month moratorium on residential mortgage foreclosure judgments.
Sen. John Carey, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said he has been talking with officials and legislators about the various bills and has not gotten sufficient agreement to move forward.
Carey said his committee will work on the issues this summer.
Bill Faith, executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio, has been working with the committee on wording in the pending bills that Republicans and Democrats can agree on.
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