Ga. police offered foreclosed homes

January 08, 2009 05:17 AM

By Rhonda Cook
Atlanta Journal-Constitution

ATLANTA — Fulton County Commissioner Robb Pitts thinks he’s found a way to keep police officers from leaving their jobs and to solve the home foreclosure crisis at the same time.

For $2,500 down, a promise to stay with the same police department for at least 15 years and an agreement to pay taxes, utilities and upkeep, an officer could get a foreclosed house without any other payments. The lender, in return, would get the public’s “good will for doing this,” and possibly a credit on Fulton County taxes.

Pitts hopes to sell the idea to other officials in the city, state and, possibly, federal government, but for now he is looking only at a pilot program in Fulton County.

Pitts said Wednesday he has pitched the idea to a few mortgage companies, though not in detail. He plans to meet with them within the next few days.

But there wasn’t a lot of interest in the idea on the part of some lenders contacted Wednesday.

“It sounds like a nice program, a good idea for trying to keep officers,” said Merry Coalson of Liberty Mortgage, president of the Atlanta Association of Mortgage Bankers. “I don’t know if lenders would be willing to do that. If it’s a tax credit for Fulton County, I don’t know how many [lenders] ... are located in Fulton County. I don’t know that there would be a whole lot of participation if it’s just county based.”

Coalson said there “may be more interest if it’s statewide, but I don’t know how many [lenders] are based in the state of Georgia.”

David Oliver of the Georgia Bankers Association said the group would have no comment on Pitts’ plan until members had seen it. But he conceded there would “probably not” be much interest, based on what little had been explained. “It wouldn’t be simple,” Oliver said. Bank of America spokesman Terry Francisco said the company was sensitive to the problems foreclosed properties cause communities. “We would need to see the details, and we’d be happy to discuss alternatives,” Francisco said.

Pitts’ program would provide credits only on Fulton County taxes, but it would not be limited to Fulton County law enforcement officers.

“No jurisdiction is able to pay its police officers what they deserve. This would be a supplement to their salaries,” he said. “It would be a huge tool for recruiting people to become police officers and to retain those officers.” The program would provide “a stable crew of experienced police officers” and would be an incentive police department recruiters could use.

The $2,500 down payment would go to “the entity that would set up to manage the program,” Pitts said. “After 15 years, they [the police officers] will be given the deed to the house” if they are still working for the same agency.

“You’d think twice about leaving” a police department if you were getting a house with little investment, he said.

Fulton County police love the idea.

“It’s a win, win, win situation,” said Lt. Darrell Halbert. “It’s a win because the police officer is able to get a house with very little money down. It’s a win for the community because the community has an officer as a neighbor, and that will help in terms of being a deterrent to crime. It’s a win for the Police Department because it’s a great tool for us to use in recruitment.”