Safeguard Properties is getting slammed all across the country, but not a peep from local media.
Despite the flood of recent complaints and 100's of other complaints, the Cuyahoga County Land Bank continues to give Safeguard Properties FREE taxpayer's property.
http://realneo.us/content/safeguard-properties-forest-city-slavic-village-recovery-llc-first-house-donated-county-land
The free property is located in the same exact location in which Safeguard Properties was hired to safeguard foreclosed property. How convenient!
The mortage holder banks are also giving Safeguard Properties aka Slavic Village Recovery FREE property just to get this 'distressed' property off it's books. The same 'distressed' property in which Safeguard Properties was paid money to 'safeguard' , the property is now too distressed, so the bank will give them the property for free. Apparently Safeguard Properties didn't safeguard the property well enough, so now they get the distressed house for free and also received payment from the mortgage holders to safeguard the house so it wouldn't become 'distressed'.
**** UPDATE****Although this 'pending' complaint does not mention Safeguard Properties, it is safe to assume that the complaint will be amended to include Safeguard Properties.
Housing Center Joins NFHA in HUD Complaint Against Fannie Mae for Failure to Maintain REO Inventory in Cleveland
May 13th, 2015
This morning, the Housing Center filed a complaint against Fannie Mae with the US Department of Housing and Urban Development as part of an investigation with the National Fair Housing Alliance and 18 other NFHA member organizations. This complaint is based on Fannie Mae’s consistently poor maintenance and marketing of its properties in middle- and working-class neighborhoods in communities of color while properly maintaining foreclosed properties in middle- and working-class White neighborhoods. Housing Center staff members Mandy Mehlman, Senior Research Associate; Michael Lepley, Research Associate; and Doris Honsa, Community Engagement Specialist; conducted the investigation.
Please click “Read More” for links to Media Package, NFHA press release, and HUD complaint. Thank you.
Forest City, Safeguard Properties join Cleveland nonprofits to rehab homes in Slavic Village
"Klein, who held the
chief executive job at Safeguard until 2010, knows executives at the nation's largest banks and loan servicers. And he knows what kind of scars vacant homes leave on neighborhoods. Safeguard, a beneficiary of the housing bust, inspects more than 1.8 million properties each month.
Klein believes lenders will give away those troubled houses, starting in Slavic Village, to get the burden off their books.
His goal: Get a house for free or for very little money. " http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2013/03/forest_city_safeguard_properti.html
The property is now 'distressed' , so Safeguard Properties gets it for FREE!! This is also known as a conflict of interest.
Unfortunately, our county land bank does not understand 'conflict of interest' as the land bank's president has commited MORTGAGE FRAUD!
Cuyahoga County Land Bank President Gus Frangos CON ARTIST falsifies documents to obtain a 2nd Mortgage
http://realneo.us/content/cuyahoga-county-land-bank-president-gus-frangos-con-artist-forges-documents-obtain-2nd-mortg
There are numerous complaints in several states, including Ohio, but I don't know why the Cleveland area was not included in the complaint.
Cleveland property firm accused of bias
Housing agency says Safeguard neglects minority neighborhoods
Toledo’s Fair Housing Center and the National Fair Housing Alliance have filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development against a Cleveland property management company that has operations in the Toledo area.
The complaint says that Safeguard Properties, the nation’s largest privately held property preservation firm, failed to maintain foreclosed homes in minority neighborhoods in Toledo and three others cities yet simultaneously maintained foreclosed homes in predominantly white neighborhoods.
Under the federal Fair Housing Act, failing to maintain homes based on racial or ethnic composition of a neighborhood is illegal.
Safeguard Properties was employed by the Federal National Mortgage Association to maintain its foreclosed or real estate owned homes in Toledo, Dayton, Memphis, and Baton Rouge.
The complaint states that Safeguard failed to correct even basic problems with Fannie Mae homes in predominantly black and Latino neighborhoods compared to its effort in white neighborhoods. The housing alliance filed a similar complaint against Safeguard a year ago.
“After we filed our first complaint against Safeguard Properties in March, 2013, we met with them to outline the maintenance disparities in African-American and white neighborhoods,” said Shanna L. Smith, president and CEO of the Fair Housing Alliance in Washington. “However, Safeguard claimed the examples of failed maintenance were isolated incidents and has continued in its failure to maintain properties in African-American and Latino neighborhoods.”
Safeguard Properties did not respond to calls seeking comment.
Michael Marsh, president and CEO of Toledo’s Fair Housing Center, said there is no problem with Fannie Mae.
“We are going after Safeguard. Specifically, we are looking at the properties they are taking care of for Fannie Mae, but we’re not going after Fannie Mae. In fact, Fannie Mae provided a grant for us to figure out what was going wrong with their properties,” he said. “It’s Safeguard that’s the problem. They’re basically not doing their job.”
Read more at http://www.toledoblade.com/Real-Estate/2014/04/11/Property-firm-accused-of-bias.html#sQkq0CwpX48A2gp8.99
More at Craine's Cleveland Business:
National Fair Housing Alliance files discrimination complaint against Safeguard Properties
In a news release, the alliance said
the complaint , filed with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, “is the result of an investigation into Safeguard Properties and its failure to maintain foreclosed homes in African-American and Latino neighborhoods as compared to white neighborhoods in a number of metropolitan areas nationwide.”
Alan Jaffa, CEO of Safeguard, and Greg Robinson, the company's chief financial officer and executive vice president, said the allegation is false.
“We adamantly deny the charges that Safeguard discriminates,” Jaffa said in a phone interview with Crain's this afternoon, April 8.
Robinson said the National Fair Housing Alliance provides “a very important service to this country” in combating housing discrimination nationwide. But in this case, Robinson said, “We feel the complaint is misguided.”
The alliance and its partner agencies filed an initial complaint against Safeguard in March 2013. The amended complaint, filed Monday, April 7, presents what the alliance calls “new evidence” from New Orleans and highlights investigations in Dayton, Toledo, Baton Rouge, and Memphis — all areas where Fannie Mae hired Safeguard to maintain and market its bank-owned, foreclosed homes.
“After we filed our first complaint against Safeguard Properties in March 2013, we met with them to outline the maintenance disparities in African-American and white neighborhoods,” said Shanna L. Smith, president and CEO of the National Fair Housing Alliance, in a statement. “However, Safeguard claimed the examples of failed maintenance were isolated incidents and has continued in its failure to maintain properties in African-American and Latino neighborhoods.”
http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20140408/FREE/140409803/national-...
**** UPDATE**** The Illinois Attorney General recently obtained an agreed upon settlement with Safeguard Properties. Safeguard Properties must pay one million dollars to Illinois victims of Safeguard Properties crimes. No other state Attorney General has not stepped up to file charges in their relative states against Safeguard Properties thus far.
The following link has the settlement details:
http://www.housingwire.com/articles/34139-safeguard-properties-calls-1m-...