WILMINGTON, Del. – Governor John Carney, Attorney General Kathy Jennings, Delaware State Housing Authority (DSHA) Director Anas Ben Addi and Justice of the Peace Court Chief Magistrate Alan Davis announced a joint effort on foreclosure and eviction prevention to support Delaware homeowners and renters financially impacted by the COVID-19 shutdown.

“This is still an extremely difficult time for many Delawareans and Delaware families – and this initiative is about continuing to support our neighbors through this COVID-19 crisis,” said Governor Carney. “We need to make sure homeowners and renters throughout our state are aware of their options and know what to do next if they have missed a rent or mortgage payment. We have brought together agencies across our state to more effectively coordinate our efforts and provide real support for Delawareans and Delaware families.”

Governor Carney’s latest modification includes several consumer protections for Delawareans and Delaware families. Effective at 8:00 a.m. on July 1, filings for foreclosures and evictions can resume, but evictions will continue to be stayed to permit the Justice of the Peace Courts to determine whether the parties would benefit from a court-supervised mediation or alternative dispute resolution.

That process may include identifying access to housing support services through the Delaware State Housing Authority. Local sheriffs and constables are directed to refrain from removing individuals from residential properties unless a Delaware court determines that enforcement is necessary in the interest of justice. In addition, utility companies must offer four-month payment plans to those affected by COVID-19 who were unable to pay utility bills during the height of the pandemic, and insurance companies must offer 90-day repayment plans for those affected by COVID-19 who failed to make premium payments during the height of the pandemic.

DSHA and the Department of Justice will partner on a comprehensive plan to educate Delaware homeowners and renters on the foreclosure and eviction process and provide integrated services, including financial assistance, to prevent Delaware residents from losing their homes due to a COVID-19-related job loss, loss of income or illness. In addition to at least $15 million in initial federal funding for direct housing assistance, DSHA is committing $250,000 and the Department of Justice is committing $100,000 for public awareness efforts and support to advocacy organizations.

“Even as businesses resume operations and more Delawareans get back to work after COVID-19 shutdowns, we know many homeowners and renters in our state are still struggling to keep a roof over their heads. Along with DSHA, we want to make sure that all Delawareans understand the foreclosure and eviction process, that they know all of their rights and responsibilities, and that they are able to consider all of the assistance available to them,” said Attorney General Jennings.

“DSHA remains committed to helping more Delawareans stay in their homes both during the pandemic and in the months to follow,” said DSHA Director Ben Addi. “The steps we are taking are important in preventing foreclosure and eviction court filings and will go a long way in helping us avoid a foreclosure and eviction wave in the coming months that could cause irreparable financial harm to many Delawareans.”

The joint effort on foreclosure prevention will include three key focus areas:

• Launching a multifaceted educational campaign targeting Delaware homeowners at risk of losing their homes to foreclosure due to financial difficulty as a result of the COVID-19 crisis;
• Supporting an increase in capacity for the state’s HUD-approved housing counseling nonprofit agencies to provide guidance and assistance to homeowners and additional mediation capacity in the Automatic Residential Mortgage Foreclosure Mediation Program; and
• Providing timely financial assistance tools including a new program designed to provide emergency mortgage relief for homeowners at risk of foreclosure due to a COVID-19 job loss or loss of income.

DSHA and the Department of Justice are working closely with several HUD-approved housing counseling agencies throughout the state, including NCALL, to support increased capacity within those agencies.

“NCALL is honored to be working with DSHA and the Department of Justice to assist Delaware homeowners at risk of foreclosure,” said Executive Director Karen Speakman. “As a housing counseling agency, we can offer a lifeline to households who are struggling to keep up with their mortgage payments, provide guidance on the options available to them and help them navigate the foreclosure mediation process.”

The joint effort on eviction prevention will include the below key focus areas:

• Launching a multifaceted educational campaign targeting Delaware renters at risk of eviction due to financial difficulty as a result of the COVID-19 crisis;
• Providing funding to the state’s legal aid organizations who offer legal services for unrepresented tenants facing eviction;
• An Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) program created and managed by the Justice of the Peace Court that will encourage property owners and tenants to work together on possible solutions to avoid eviction; and
• Reopening applications for the Delaware Housing Assistance Program (DE HAP) which provides rental assistance for Delawareans struggling to pay rent due to a pandemic-related job loss or illness. Income eligibility and application information for DE HAP will be available on DSHA’s website.

“This is a great program and the Delaware Judiciary is pleased to be a partner in this joint effort to help people better understand the eviction and foreclosure process, get individuals and families the help they need and ultimately keep people in their homes, particularly during these difficult times,” said Chief Magistrate Davis. “Our new Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) program – which has roots in the Superior Court’s successful mortgage mediation program – will be available for a wide variety of cases, but we expect that a large number of landlord-tenant disputes can be resolved through this process, quickly, fairly and amicably. We also recognize that landlords have a stake here and may also be struggling and we believe this program will help them be made more whole than otherwise might be possible. Finally, this program will be largely online, meaning participants will generally not have to go to court – or a mediator’s office – which is particularly advantageous during this pandemic.”

Support for the state’s legal aid organizations will be made available under funding provided by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act. With the funding, organizations like Community Legal Aid Society, Inc. (CLASI) can provide tenants legal representation so they can avoid displacement and homelessness.

“The eviction moratorium protection provided to tenants by the Governor has been extremely important to ensuring that families are not evicted from their homes during the pandemic. However, the moratorium did not abate the rent. Once the moratorium is lifted, tenants who have lost jobs and income during the pandemic will be taken to court and face eviction unless a significant rental assistance program is implemented. We will quickly be overwhelmed by requests for assistance from tenants worried that they may lose their homes because they have fallen behind in rent,” said CLASI Executive Director Dan Atkins. “With our involvement, evictions can often be prevented altogether, saving tenants, landlords, and the State the expense and disruptions of displacement and homelessness.”

Additional information on the resources available for homeowners and renters facing financial difficulty as a result of the COVID-19 crisis is available on DSHA’s website at destatehousing.com/covid19 or at de.gov/coronavirus. Homeowners can also contact the Delaware Department of Justice’s Office of Foreclosure Prevention at de.gov/foreclosureprevention or (800) 220-5424. 

Anyone with a question about COVID-19, whether related to medical or social service needs, should call Delaware 2-1-1. Individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing can text their ZIP code to 898-211. Hours of operation are 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday; 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Health or medically-related COVID-19 questions can also be submitted by email to DPHCall@delaware.gov.

Report a business for COVID-19 non-compliance using this form.

DPH will continue to update the public as more information becomes available. For the latest on Delaware’s response to COVID-19, go to de.gov/coronavirus.

###

Proposal for Joint Finance Committee to consider when it meets in January. 

Backed by community leaders and advocates for economically hard hit communities, Attorney General Matt Denn has renewed and revised his proposal to utilize funds from financial crisis settlement to be used for crime prevention, housing, substance abuse treatment, after school and summer school programs, prisoner reentry and education in those areas.

The proposal is a renewal of the Attorney General’s “Lifting Up Delaware’s Communities” program, announced in January 2015,  for using settlement funds that Delaware had received from Bank of America and Citigroup to resolve allegations of market misconduct by financial institutions that contributed to the national financial crash.

The amount of funds now available is approximately $29 million, rather than the original $36 million available a year ago. $5 million was used by the General Assembly in June 2015 to balance the state budget, and another $2 million was set aside in December by agreement between the legislature’s Joint Finance Committee and the Department of Justice to expand policing in high-crime areas of Dover and Wilmington. JFC is expected to deliberate over additional uses of the funds in January.

“Our proposal in January, and our proposal today, is that these funds be used to help lift up our state’s hardest hit communities.  That is what is called for by the settlement agreement, and speaking for a moment as an elected official whose top priority is fighting violent crime, investing in these communities is also what we should be doing if we really want to bring down the rate of violent crime,” Attorney General Denn said. “

The renewed Lifting Up Delaware’s Communities is similar to that unveiled in January, with some dollar amounts reduced to reflect the smaller amount of funds available, and with two changes to reflect valuable input that was received from the community and legislators after the initial proposal was made.

The proposal was backed at Wednesday’s event by representatives of atTAcK Addiction, Stop The Violence Prayer Chain, the Wilmington HOPE Commission, New Castle County Police, Red Clay Education Association, Safe United Neighborhoods, the Wilmington Education Improvement Commission, Boys & Girls Clubs of Delaware, and New Castle County Councilman Jea Street.

“This funding would mean the world to students,” said Monique Taylor-Gibbs, a teacher in Wilmington’s Warner Elementary School. “These funds would mean after school programs, it would mean more adequate bodies in the classroom, it would allow us to have smaller class sizes, it would allow the students to be able to stay in school until 6:00 p.m. and then just go home and do homework and go to bed.”

The Lifting Up Delaware’s Communities proposal now consists of :

Investing in People and Neighborhoods ($10.7 Million)

• Substance Abuse Treatment.  $3 million over three years should be spent on providing drug treatment opportunities for inmates with substance abuse disorder who are either nearing release from prison or have just been released from prison.
• Prison Re-Entry Programs.  $3 million over three years should be spent on competitive grants to non-profit organizations that assist inmates being released from correctional facilities to avoid new criminal offenses.
• Community Policing and Community Support.  $4.7 million should be allocated to the state’s Neighborhood Building Blocks Fund, which can make grants for a broad array of government and non-profit efforts to support economically impacted neighborhoods.

Providing Affordable Housing and Development in Economically Impacted Areas ($10.5 million)

• Foreclosure Prevention.  $1.5 million should be directed to the Delaware Mortgage Assistance Program to help Delaware homeowners prevent foreclosures on their primary properties.
• Home Purchase Opportunities for Foreclosure Victims.  $4 million should go to the Downtown Development Districts program, to be used for the purpose of providing down payment assistance to homeowners willing to purchase homes in Downtown Development Districts.  Down payment grants should be means-tested, and first priority would be given to persons and families who lost their homes to foreclosure between 2008 and the present.
• Affordable Housing.  $5 million should go to the Delaware State Housing Authority’s Strong Neighborhoods Revolving Housing Fund, which is dedicated to the creation of affordable housing in economically impacted areas.

Providing Help to Low-Income Children ($7.8 million)

• Support for High Poverty Elementary Schools. We are proposing to dedicate $4.8 million to providing $100,000 per year for three years to each of the state’s 16 highest-poverty elementary schools, to allow them to hire additional teachers or paraprofessionals to work with the students from low-income areas who attend school there every day.
• After School and Summer Programs.  $3 million over three years should be spent on after-school and summer programs targeted at students who live in low-income areas of the state.

“When it comes to sentencing those who have broken the law, we have to ask, do we wish to punish, or do we wish to rehabilitate,” said David Hume of atTAcK Addiction. “It is estimated, the costs of $36,000 to incarcerate, while the cost of treatment is $6,000. To rehabilitate and prevent recidivism, we need the $3-million that the Attorney General has earmarked for drug treatment opportunities for those currently incarcerated, as well as programs to insure those about to be released have a plan to move forward in their lives.”

Colonel Elmer Setting, Chief of the New Castle County Police Department, echoed the sentiments of atTAcK Addiction, and said arresting users isn’t the answer, suggesting if we educate and rehabilitate, we will be a better country, a better state, and a better city.

The Citi and BOA settlement funds are held by the Attorney General’s Office and can be spent by agreement of the Attorney General and the Joint Finance Committee if the JFC indicates it does not intend to take the funds from the settlement account and allocate them as part of the budget process. Attorney General Denn continues to believe the settlement funds should not be used by the legislature to plug budget holes.

June 10, 2013 (DOVER, DE) – The Delaware State Housing Authority (DSHA) and the Delaware Attorney General’s Office joined forces to launch “Delaware Homeowner Relief”, an initiative created using a portion of funds Delaware received through the Multistate Mortgage Foreclosure Settlement between the federal government and five of the nation’s largest mortgage-servicing banks. Most recently, the partnership launched a new website designed to help Delawareans facing foreclosure.  DelawareHomeownerRelief.com was developed with the support of the Government Information Center, and provides information on a wide range of resources for homeowners in distress, including emergency mortgage assistance; manufactured housing lot rent assistance; foreclosure prevention and financial counseling; and, other programs and services unique to Delaware.

Governor Jack Markell praised the new website, calling it a “one-stop shop” for anyone looking for information on resources available to homeowners in Delaware. “This provides vital information so homeowners will know options available to them and where to go to get the help they need,” he said.

“Everyone benefits when we can reduce foreclosures — families keep their homes and neighbors see their home values rise,” said Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden. “This initiative will provide critical resources for homeowners so they can act before it is too late.”

The website is a key part of “Delaware Homeowner Relief,” a partnership between DSHA and the Attorney General’s Office which also supports housing counseling, education and outreach, foreclosure mediation, mortgage fraud investigation and prosecution, emergency mortgage assistance, manufactured housing lot rent assistance, and servicer events, where homeowners can meet personally with representatives from mortgage lenders to work toward a resolution to their mortgage crisis.

“We are very pleased to launch this site to help homeowners faced with the prospect of losing their home get the information they need as quickly as possible,” said DSHA Director Anas Ben Addi.  “Thanks to assistance from the Government Information Center, the new website has an adaptive design that is also easily accessible from a variety of mobile devices and tablets.”

DSHA and the Delaware Attorney General’s office are working together to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy to enhance the outreach efforts.  These efforts include multiple messages for a wide variety of outlets such as informational advertisements on TV and radio, billboards, in addition to statewide servicer events, and housing counseling workshops.

Last month, Delaware Homeowner Relief announced the new Manufactured Housing Assistance Program which enables owners of manufactured homes on rented land or on a lot owned by the homeowner to receive payment assistance for past due lot rent and/or home payments up to $5,000.  This Program is expected to help up to 60 Delawareans become current on their lot rent, and avoid eviction from their homes.

For additional information and/or eligibility requirements for programs, please call (888) 363-8808 or visit www.DelawareHomeownerRelief.com.  To find out more about foreclosure prevention programs including the mandatory mortgage foreclosure mediation program, or if you believe you have been the victim of fraud or a scam, call the Delaware Homeowner Relief Hotline toll-free at (800) 220-5424 for information and referrals.