Federal Reserve Bank of Boston - July 23, 2009
As foreclosures continue to have impacts on communities across the country, ten researchers working on foreclosure research in Massachusetts convened at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston to share details of their projects. The event was organized by IASP, the Federal Reserve Bank and Citizen's Housing and Planning Association (CHAPA).
Starting with macro perspectives on foreclosures, Paul Willen from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston shared the results from work he has done on the role of securitization in foreclosures, seeking to understand why servicers are not modifying their loans in greater numbers. Stefano Giglio from Harvard University presented work on the impact of real estate prices from foreclosed properties, and Donna Friedman from the University of Massachusetts-Boston and Tim Davies introduced a project looking at neighborhood impacts on foreclosures in Boston that is currently in process.
Kai-Yan Lee from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston introduced community level impacts, talking about the differences in assessments of at-risk neighborhoods based on different data sources. Lauren Lambie-Hanson from MIT presented a project just getting off the ground in Chelsea looking at the impact of foreclosure on ownership, particularly investor owners. Michael Johnson from University of Massachusetts-Boston talked about a project underway to assess which properties make sense for governments and non-profits to purchase.
The next group focused on talking to people in or at risk of foreclosure. Hannah Thomas from IASP presented initial findings from interviews with families in foreclosure in Boston focusing on coping strategies, financial decisions families were making, and asset stripping. Karen McCormack from Wheaton College described a project currently underway to interview families at risk of foreclosure and described the impacts of the financial stress on their lives.
The final group focused on data. Tim Warren from The Warren Group described the data available from their organization providing some up-to-date trends on foreclosures. Med Nipson and Daniel McCue from the Joint Center on Housing Studies talked about their work with the National Bankruptcy Project, focusing on trying to understand characteristics of the subset of bankrupt homeowners.
For more information, please contact Hannah Thomas at hthomas@brandeis.edu or (781) 736-3819
View the presentation PowerPoint presentation by Hannah Thomas
© 2009, Institute on Assets and Social Policy, The Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University. All rights are reserved.
