Chicago Area Local News

CHICAGO (CBS) ― Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart has resumed foreclosure evictions after a brief suspension, and people are losing their homes in record numbers.

Dart's attempt to stall foreclosures ran out on Monday. He had ordered a moratorium on enforcing eviction orders because tenants who had faithfully paid their rent were being kicked out of their homes without prior notification that their landlord had lost the property.

The effort drew national attention.

After almost a two-week break, Dart resumed foreclosure evictions Monday, but with new safeguards to ensure that innocent victims of the mortgage crisis aren't caught unaware.

Four teams of sheriff's deputies were serving notice on 15 households Monday. It is a scary experience to have the authorities banging on your door, but some residents found out they are getting a break.

On Monday morning, sheriff's police knocked down the door to evict a resident forcibly from an apartment at Ashland Avenue and Garfield Boulevard. In that case, a tenant had failed to pay rent.

But deputies also found the very kind of situation Dart had been trying to protect tenants from. At 66th Street and Wabash Avenue, a family of eight people learned their landlord lost the house, but as tenants, they would have time to find a new home.

"I've got a child, and there's kids in this house, and you know, we really don't have anywhere to go at this current moment," said renter Ruthie Jones. "It was like, the landlord stopped answering the phone."

And for five years, Sheryl Dockery faithfully paid $850 a month in rent for her three-bedroom apartment, but her landlord gave her no clue her building was in foreclosure.

"He hasn't been here for months," Dockery said. "He would correspond by phone but he wouldn't come here physically. We didn't know until now."

They didn't know until the sheriff's police arrived Monday to evict them. They had the letter from Countrywide, saying the building had been sold, and tenants had to go. It was a letter Dockery never received.

"Under the old rules, if they weren't here, if they were out working which a lot of people are doing, we would have emptied the house," Dart said.

But now, instead of putting Dockery out, police attached an orange flyer to the door, saying her family has 120 days to find new housing.

"We need a proper notice like everyone does," Dockery said. "We're getting it today."

Sheriff Dart suspended evictions 12 days ago because of situations exactly like this – tenants who had no idea they were about to be evicted due to foreclosure.

Tony Brown's situation was even worse. His landlord signed tenants to leases after the building was in foreclosure.

"He should be able to tell his tenants if he's in foreclosure or not. He did not tell us," Brown said. "We're paying rent and now this happens and we don't know what's going on."

Dart said he maintains a goal of protecting innocent renters.

"We need to make sure that the people are not being victimized around here by some heartless, reckless institutions that just don't care, and then want everybody else to take care of their mess," Dart said.

Dart blames the mortgage companies for forcing his deputies to put people out of their homes.

Last week, Cook County judges began using a new court document for foreclosure evictions that specifically names tenants living at the foreclosed property and states how long they are allowed to remain in units -- the length of their lease or 120 days, whichever is shorter -- before deputies are allowed to haul out their belongings.

The new eviction order, Dart says, makes sure innocent renters aren't surprised when deputies come knocking on eviction day.

Dart also told reporters he has assigned a social worker to help evicted tenants find housing and social services and expanded his financial crimes unit to include investigations of mortgage fraud.

The new 120-day rule gives some tenants breathing room, but Dart warns the flood of foreclosure evictions is only beginning.

"We are going to do 4,500 this year, probably more than that. Next year, more than that..." he said.

Cook County foreclosure evictions have tripled in the last two years. And since they take 18 months to work through the court system, we still haven't seen the wave of cases from the bottom of the housing slump. That tidal wave of evictions is yet to come.

CBS 2's Joanie Lum and Derrick Blakley and the STNG Wire contributed to this report.

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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