(Washington, DC)  --  The House Committee on Financial Services will hold a field hearing tomorrow at Cuyahoga Community College on the issue of home and farm foreclosures.  The hearing will be chaired by U.S. Rep. Steven C. LaTourette (R-Concord Township), a senior member of the committee.

 LaTourette said his congressional colleague, Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-OH), will also participate in the hearing entitled “Community Solutions for the Prevention of and Management of Foreclosures.”  The hearing will be held at 10 a.m. at the Super Conference Room, Cuyahoga County Community College, Corporate College Eastern Campus, 4400 Richmond Road, Warrensville Heights.

 LaTourette said the hearing will delve into responses by housing organizations, government agencies, and lenders to the foreclosure problem.  He said the focus will be on Cuyahoga County home foreclosures and farm foreclosures in NE Ohio.

 LaTourette said he asked Ashtabula County resident Bryan Wolfe to testify because he has a unique perspective on the challenges faced by farmers in order to avoid foreclosure.  Farmers suffer credit challenges that can be daunting, LaTourette said, especially on the heels of a bad harvest, drought or flood.  Wolfe, a dairy farmer from Rome Township, is vice president of the Ohio Farmers Union.

 “Foreclosure is expensive for borrowers and lenders.  Foreclosures damage the local real estate market and economy, and the cost to local government can be high,” LaTourette said.  “We want to explore ways to prevent foreclosures for both homeowners and family farmers.”

 LaTourette said home foreclosures have been especially costly in Cuyahoga County, and Cleveland in particular.  He said the city of Cleveland will spend $1 million this year alone just to board up and secure vacant homes.   In 1995, there were fewer than 2,600 foreclosures in Cuyahoga county.  A decade later, the number approached 12,000, he said.

 LaTourette said the threat of farm foreclosures is a reality in his district, which is home to many family farms.  He said they are mainstays of the local economy and a buffer against unfettered sprawl.

 “Our farmland is dwindling and once it goes, it is forever lost to development because the land is so valuable,” LaTourette said.  “It is a sad thing when our local farmers are driven to foreclosure, and we need to ensure that both the farmers and the lenders are on the same page.”

 LaTourette said one in seven people in Ohio is employed in some aspect of agriculture, including farm production, wholesaling and retailing, marketing and processing, and agribusiness.  LaTourette said there are more than 5,000 farms in his congressional district, and the market value of the agricultural products sold each year is more than $212 million.

  He said there are about 170,000 acres of farmland in Ashtabula County and more than 1,200 farms.  The average farm size is 133 acres, and the market value of agricultural products sold annually is $32 million.  In Geauga County, there are about 66,000 acres of farmland for 975 farms; the market value of agricultural products sold is $23 million.  In Lake County, there are more than 330 farms using about 20,0000 acres of farmland.  The market value of agricultural products sold in Lake County is $72.4 million, largely due to the presence of nurseries and wineries.

 LaTourette’s district also includes part of Cuyahoga County, which has about 160 farms covering 4,000 acres.  The market value of agricultural products sold from those Cuyahoga County farms is about $18 million.  Other counties in LaTourette’s district include:

 Trumbull County – about 126,000 acres of farmland, and more than 1,000 farms; the market value of agricultural products sold is about $31 million. 

 Portage County – about 97,000 acres of farmland for more than 950 farms; the market value of agricultural products sold is about $25 million.

 Summit County – about 21,000 acres of farmland for about 375 farms; the market value of agricultural products sold is $11 million.

 The hearing, which is expected to last about two hours, will include two panels of witnesses.  The first panel includes: Daryl P. Rush, Director of Department of Community Development, Cleveland; and Mr. Mark Wiseman, Director of Cuyahoga County Foreclosure Prevention Program.
 
 The second panel includes:  Michael Fratantoni, Senior Director of Single Family Research and Economics, Mortgage Bankers Association; Deborah Oakley, Senior Vice President of Homeownership Preservation at National City Corporation, who is testifying on behalf of the Housing Policy Council of The Financial Services Roundtable; Vanessa Randolph, Director of Fannie-Mae Northern Ohio Community Business Center;  Lou Tisler, Executive Director of Neighborhood Housing Services of Greater Cleveland; and Bryan Wolfe, Vice President of the Ohio Farmers Union.