Cook County Sheriff Suspends Evictions, Says Crisis “Too Unjust”

Related subjects: Mortgage & Credit Crisis, U.S. Law, U.S. Politics, Vote 2008

9 October 2008 :: staff

The sheriff of Cook County, Illinois, which includes the city of Chicago, has suspended law-enforcement support for evictions, expressing outrage at mortgage lenders, and saying too many innocent renters are being forced onto the street with literally zero notice. Sheriff Thomas Dart says all foreclosure-related evictions will be postponed indefinitely, because law-enforcement has “no idea who’s in the home” when they show up to force residents to leave. He says there are too many “unjust” circumstances in which innocent people, whom nobody has informed of the building’s foreclosure, are targetted by evictions.

Dart says before any evictions resume, he will make sure law-enforcement has confirmed who is residing in the foreclosed property, that the actual residents have been notified, that they have in some way violated their agreement and have time to plan for an orderly move. An Illinois bankers’ association has said Dart’s moratorium is “vigilantism at the highest level”. Dart told CNN he “would be guilty of the highest dereliction of my duty” if he doesn’t make sure that creditors have confirmed who is actually residing in the home and that the process is fair, especially where innocent renters or residents are involved.

Dart insists that creditors are not properly notifying people living in the foreclosed residence. The law mandates that those who will be forced out of their home must be notified at least 120 days before the actual eviction occurs. Law enforcement visit the home when there is resistance, or in order to confirm that a property has been vacated, but Dart says there have been too many cases where they are simply being used as a bludgeon to force people out of their homes who are not in fact responsible for the mortgage payments not being made.

The announcement comes as Sen. John McCain, Republican candidate for the presidency, is explaining his proposal for spending an additional $300 billion in taxpayer money to buy failing mortgages at “face value”, then resell them at current market value, demanding that the loans be renegotiated at the lower price, so homeowners can stay in their homes. The move sounds resoundingly populist, but then it lacks the repay-all-taxpayer-dollars provisions lawmakers tout as being central to the $700 billion rescue package.

There is clearly a looming foreclosure crisis which has not been adequately addressed by the financial rescue package, though it does include language urging regulators to find a way to incentivize the renegotiation of unrepayable mortgages, and prevent foreclosures. Sheriff Dart’s effort to buy time for the people directly affected by the crisis may be a sign of the political climate, may even motivate the political climate, as presidential and Congressional candidates search for the best policies to reduce the long-term impact of the credit crisis of 2008.