08-25-2008 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Item Number: 7A Meeting Date: August 25, 2008 Type of Business: EDA Administrator Review: _____ City of Mounds View Staff Report To: Economic Development Authority From: Heidi Steinmetz, Economic Development Specialist Item Title/Subject: Consider Budget Amendment to Allow for Distribution of a Foreclosure Prevention Notice Background One of my responsibilities as Economic Development Specialist is to market the City. Successful marketing depends on a positive image of the City and a healthy housing stock is important to this image. I maintain the City’s “Housing Resources" and “Foreclosure Prevention” Webpages to provide residents with information about housing. Other Mounds View foreclosure prevention tools include: • Mounds View “Foreclosures” brochure designed by Jeremiah Anderson (based on the City of Brooklyn Center’s brochure) • Mounds View Matters articles written by Heidi Heller & myself • Cable Channel 16 foreclosure prevention billboard designed by me While these staff efforts are a good start for the City to help prevent foreclosures, I believe there is a need for additional outreach from the City. A new way for the City to reach the owners of single-family homes would be a direct mail postcard. This memo outlines the benefits of such a mailing and how the cost of this additional outreach is minimal compared to the dollar value of staff time already devoted to this crisis. Discussion The postcard idea came from a free foreclosure prevention training I attended on June 26, 2008 at Shoreview City Hall, which was sponsored by the MN Home Ownership Center. It was at this training that I found out that the MN Home Ownership Center “co-sponsors” direct mail pieces with communities. The MN Home Ownership Center has a design template that other cities have used, such