2019 Mount Vernon Housing Fair

On June 29th, Mayor Richard Thomas and the Department Planning and Community Development hosted the Mount Vernon Housing Fair, which brought together housing and legal service providers. The fair was sponsored by the Local Initiative Support Corporation’s Zombie Grant. The main goal was to help distressed home owners, who may be having issues with their mortgage, get help to keep their homes. This zombie initiative aims to prevent foreclosures which leads to properties becoming vacant and in severe disrepair. Outreach was conducted by Westchester Residential Opportunities and the department via churches, small business and social media outlets targeting Mount Vernon residents.

Besides information on mortgage foreclosure counseling, other participating agencies provided information on first-time home buyers down payment assistance, tenant rights advocacy and legal assistance for rental tenants, home owners insurance, and housing discrimination advocacy. The following agencies participated in the fair:

1- Legal Services of the Hudson Valley

2- PCSB Bank

3- Mount Vernon United Tenants — Tenant Rights and Advocacy

4- Westchester Residential Opportunities, INC-Mortgage Default / Home Buying/Eviction

and Utility Shut-off Prevention/Fair Housing

5- West Chester County Human Rights Commission

6- US Census Bureau

7- Allstate Insurance — Patricia Valdez Agency

8- Heritage Real Estate Services — Sylvia Woods

9- Attorney At Law- Joyce Brown