“We are going to need to continue to be creative to find ways to fill programming holes that result from federal and state budget cuts,” said O’Grady.

By IKE MGBATOGU

Contributing Writer

COLUMBUS – Franklin County Commissioners, all Democrats, understand quite well that times are hard. They know that these bad economic times require belt tightening measures to cope. But, in their eyes, that doesn’t mean that government should deny struggling families the help they need on an issue they view as a priority.

That help is offering foreclosure counseling to those who need it.

Franklin County has a high record of housing foreclosures in Ohio, despite the fact that foreclosure figures declined by 18.6 percent from last year. Regardless of that decline, only Cuyahoga County has more foreclosed homes in Ohio than Franklin County, meaning that housing foreclosure is still a Herculean problem in the county where many families need help with counseling to ease the pain and the worry.

That’s why when federal money meant to fund foreclosure counseling services got lost in the shuffle of priorities in the Federal Housing and Urban Development budget for this and next year, that didn’t sit well with Commissioners Marylyn Brown, Paula Brooks and John O’Grady who huddled up to scramble for funding to keep the services going.

They expressed the view that maintaining such program, for the 900 Franklin County households needing it, is an important priority.

With help from other county officials, including Treasurer Ed Leonard and Prosecutor Ron O’Brien, they dredged up money to sustain the program. They found $50,000 by amending the 2011 HUD Action Plan, freeing up $12,500 each for the four agencies that provide housing counseling, including Columbus Urban League, the Columbus Housing Partnership, Homes on the Hill and Mid Ohio Regional Planning Commission.

All told, each of these agencies will receive a $25,000 funding, including additional money received from the offices of the prosecutor and the treasurer.

It was absolutely necessary to sustain this program, said Board of Commissioners President Brown.

“We needed to find a way to keep this programming available to Franklin County families as it benefits so many,” said Brown, applauding the efforts of Leonard and O’Brien. “Many thanks to our Economic Development and Planning Staff, Treasurer Ed Leonard, and Ron O’Brien for helping us find a way to fill the hole left by the feds.”

Commissioner Brooks also credits teamwork for achieving this goal.

“In difficult times, we must work together to protect the most vulnerable,” said Brooks.  “I appreciate the eager willingness of Persecutor O’Brien and Treasurer Leonard to join with the Commissioners in protecting Franklin County families. We hope this counseling will save many homes heartaches.”

Agreeing with his colleagues, Commissioner O’Grady called this “our new reality.”  He said that in an era of government budget cuts at the state and federal level, this kind of situation would always be encountered.

“We are going to need to continue to be creative to find ways to fill programming holes that result from federal and state budget cuts,” said O’Grady.

Both Treasurer Leonard and Prosecutor O’Brien also saw a great need for foreclosure counseling program in Franklin County and expressed satisfaction for being involved in the solution to fund the program.

“There is still a great need for homeowners to have access to trusted and reliable resources that our housing counselors provide to help them navigate through the intimidating foreclosure process,” said Leonard.  He said that it is important that Franklin County residents “get the best and most accurate help and information when they are going through this difficult time.”

O’Brien, who is involved in litigating foreclosure cases in the county, expressed similar views, saying, “There’s validity of this federally funded program which assisted homeowners throughout the daunting foreclosure process.”

Mgbatogu is a freelance writer and editor of Onumba.com based in Columbus. He can be reached by email at Onumbamedia@yahoo.com