Assessing the Foreclosure Pilot Program in Miami, Florida

ABSTRACT

In Miami, Florida, the courts were able to effectively manage foreclosure cases until the volume of cases began to escalate with the housing bust at the end of 2007. The results were congested court calendars, backlogged cases, months of delay for hearings and foreclosure sales. These results created a ripple effect through the local economy, with non-paying mortgagors living for free for years and not paying taxes and condominium/homeowners associations lacking the funds to pay for regular maintenance and assessments. On the level
of local government, counties and cities experienced severe fiscal impact, with shortfalls in tax revenues, the source of funding for many critical services to the public, including life safety resources. By 2010, the foreclosure caseloads had escalated to crisis levels, with 83,597 open cases pending in the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Court, located in Miami-Dade County. The foreclosure pilot program was the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Court’s attempt to address this problem.

The focus of this paper is to evaluate the success of the program. The statistics collected reflect how many cases were dismissed, closed, whether by final judgment or trial and provides the report card on the program. Also discussed are a number of factors that were impediments to the program, along with the due process issues.

After implementation of the foreclosure pilot program, 41,353 cases were closed. The clearing of these files resulted in a 49% reduction in pending foreclosure cases.

Full report below…

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4closureFraud.org

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Assessing the Foreclosure Pilot Program in Miami, Florida