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ยป VISIT US ONLINE @ DSNEWS.COM 83 in "a lot of housing for people who don't exist any longer," Szymanski said. "at leads to a staggering number of foreclosures." In some parts of Detroit, property values have plummeted by as much as 90 percent, according to Szymanski, and in many of those cases, the amount of money owed in delinquent taxes is more than the house is worth. Due to the large number of empty or abandoned homes, blight has become a sig- nificant problem in Wayne County for many years, and Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan is making a push to eliminate it, Szymanski said, which is important because "blight breeds blight in communities." "If we don't foreclose on all the proper- ties that are eligible for foreclosure, we leave blight behind," Szymanski said. e third reason for the aggressive foreclosure campaign in and around Detroit is the Step Forward program, which was cre- ated in response to the 2008 housing crisis to help distressed borrowers pay their taxes. e federal government provided $500 million for the program and so far has helped about 4,000 distressed homeowners in Wayne County pay a combined total of about $40 million in taxes, according to Szymanski. Borrowers must meet certain requirements to be eligible for Step Forward, such as they must own and live in the home, they must be pursuant to a deed, and they must have experienced a financial hardship that was not of their own doing. ough the program has helped 4,000 homeowners, that is "a drop in the bucket compared to what we want to accomplish," Szymanski said. ere are many more who have applied for relief through Step Forward and are waiting for the state of Michigan to determine their eligibility. Szymanski said they are touting Step Forward more heavily recently because there is about $200 million left in the program, and county officials fear the federal government might discontinue the program and reclaim the remaining funds. Minnesota RANK: 48 90+ Day Foreclosure Unemployment Delinquency Rate Rate Rate SEPTEMBER 2014 1.18% 0.57% 4.1 YEAR AGO 1.29% 0.89% 4.9 YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE -8.5% -35.6% -0.8 Top County PIPESTONE COUNTY 90+ Day Foreclosure Delinquency Rate Rate SEPTEMBER 2014 2.12% 2.16% YEAR AGO 3.03% 2.20% YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE -29.9% -1.8% Top Core-Based Statistical Area NEW ULM, MN 90+ Day Foreclosure Delinquency Rate Rate SEPTEMBER 2014 2.65% 1.32% YEAR AGO 1.92% 1.24% YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE 37.8% 6.4% note: The 90+ day delinquecy rate is the percentage of outstanding mortgage loans that are seriously delinquent. The foreclosure rate is the percentage of outstanding mortgage loans currently in foreclosure. State rank is based on the September 2014 foreclosure rate. All figures are rounded to the nearest decimal. The unemployment rate reflects preliminary September 2014 figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. All other data courtesy of LPS Data & Analytics. Minnesota www.MinnesotaREO.com 612-669-6324 952-829-2938 763-432-7640 612-821-7500 952-844-1511 763-533-9133 651-209-8444 Bruce McAlpin Jeff Detloff Long H. Doan Maribel Garcia Garth Johnson Craig Murphy Michael Olsen Missouri RANK: 38 90+ Day Foreclosure Unemployment Delinquency Rate Rate Rate SEPTEMBER 2014 2.21% 0.84% 6.3 YEAR AGO 2.46% 0.99% 6.4 YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE -10.3% -15.4% -0.1 Top County MISSISSIPPI COUNTY 90+ Day Foreclosure Delinquency Rate Rate SEPTEMBER 2014 4.98% 3.31% YEAR AGO 4.77% 3.82% YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE 4.5% -13.5% Top Core-Based Statistical Area POPLAR BLUFF, MO 90+ Day Foreclosure Delinquency Rate Rate SEPTEMBER 2014 2.54% 2.07% YEAR AGO 1.72% 1.92% YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE 47.3% 8.0% note: The 90+ day delinquecy rate is the percentage of outstanding mortgage loans that are seriously delinquent. The foreclosure rate is the percentage of outstanding mortgage loans currently in foreclosure. State rank is based on the September 2014 foreclosure rate. All figures are rounded to the nearest decimal. The unemployment rate reflects preliminary September 2014 figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. All other data courtesy of LPS Data & Analytics. Nebraska RANK: 46 90+ Day Foreclosure Unemployment Delinquency Rate Rate Rate SEPTEMBER 2014 1.48% 0.59% 3.6 YEAR AGO 1.62% 0.86% 3.9 YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE -8.4% -32.2% -0.3 Top County RED WILLOW COUNTY 90+ Day Foreclosure Delinquency Rate Rate SEPTEMBER 2014 1.77% 1.34% YEAR AGO 1.41% 0.96% YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE 25.1% 40.1% Top Core-Based Statistical Area SCOTTSBLUFF, NE 90+ Day Foreclosure Delinquency Rate Rate SEPTEMBER 2014 1.57% 1.06% YEAR AGO 1.44% 1.89% YEAR-OVER-YEAR CHANGE 8.6% -44.2% note: The 90+ day delinquecy rate is the percentage of outstanding mortgage loans that are seriously delinquent. The foreclosure rate is the percentage of outstanding mortgage loans currently in foreclosure. State rank is based on the September 2014 foreclosure rate. All figures are rounded to the nearest decimal. The unemployment rate reflects preliminary September 2014 figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. All other data courtesy of LPS Data & Analytics. Michigan had the seventh highest total of REOs among states in October 2014 with 1,223, according to RealtyTrac. KNOW THIS Minnesota's foreclosure rate increased by 18 percent month-over- month in October 2014, bucking the national trend for the month, according to RealtyTrac. KNOW THIS