Case study: "Save Your Home"

As the housing crisis rolled on last year, KSHB-TV in Kansas City launched a project aimed at helping people stave off foreclosure. The result: 700 families kept their homes. How did they do it?

As the consumer reporter at a "Call for Action" station, Jenn Strathman was bombarded with emails and phone calls from people trying to save their homes. Over time, she discovered a disturbing pattern: many people were underwater not because they'd taken out a risky subprime mortgage but because they'd lost their jobs. And the federal plan to help them modify their loans, the Making Home Affordable program, was so complicated and time-consuming, many people weren't getting the help they needed.

"They're paying for scams, " Strathman said. "They don't know where to start and they don't know how to fix it."

Strathman became the point person for a major station project, Save Your Home, which won a regional Murrow award. Last September, she organized a day-long phone bank, taking calls from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. from homeowners who needed help. About 700 people called and were paired up with certified housing counselors to begin reworking the terms of their loans.

Strathman had no trouble finding people who were willing to tell their stories on television. "Do the first story and people are going to find you," she said. "Once you do one story, you'll be bombarded with calls for help from homeowners whose followed the rules and still can't modify their loan or people who lost their homes for silly reasons like lost paperwork." Here's just one example:

Strathman admits it's challenging to make these stories into good television. Visually, they're not terribly exciting. But by finding strong characters with problems others can relate to, Strathman says these stories have impact.

To get a project like this started at your station, Strathman advises teaming up with a certified housing counselor to find people who are facing foreclosure. HUD's website has a searchable state-by-state list; the non-profit group NeighborWorks can also help. Or sign up with Pro Publica, the public interest journalism network, whose "reporting matchmaker" puts journalists in touch with struggling homeowners.

Other local stories Strathman suggests:

How is your community dealing with the crisis?

Kansas City set up a database to track vacant homes but it's basically worthless. Property owners are supposed to register vacant properties and face a fine if they don't. But the city doesn't have the staff or the money to enforce the ordinance.

Local schools have to transport homeless students. Some schools in the Kansas City area use taxi cabs. It costs them hundreds of thousands of dollars when they're chopping thousands from their budget. There are not many teen shelters so they're busing the kids a long distance every day, twice a day.

Tax dollars at work

Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) dollars are not being spent "because cities are not used to being in the business of rehabbing homes," Strathman says. "Taxpayers have no idea there is money out there to help them rehab a foreclosed home in hardest hit neighborhoods because cities are not letting them know."

Scams and legislation

Cities have been slow to start scam campaigns to alert people to state laws. Many states, including Missouri and Kansas, make it illegal to take money upfront for loan modification, but homeowners still fall victim to scams.

Rental rights

Renters are paying rent but the landlord isn't paying the mortgage. The renter finds out when foreclosure papers show up and they're homeless. Federal law gives renters 90 days to move out or they may be able to stay until the end of the lease. Most renters don't know about these rules.

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