PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philadelphia Courts have ordered that sheriff’s sales be halted until September, so that distressed homeowners can take advantage of $350 million in the American Rescue Plan.
That money has been earmarked to help Pennsylvanians pay mortgage or tax debt on their homes and avoid foreclosure.
President Judge Idee Fox’s issued the order in response to letters from both Sheriff Rochelle Bilal and City Council members.
Sheriff’s sales were halted for a year by the COVID-19 pandemic, but resumed this month online. That raised concerns about out-of-town speculators fueling gentrification.
Council held a six-hour hearing on the matter last week, including three hours of testimony by Bilal and her aids insisting there was no legal basis for further delays to the process.
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Another sale was held Tuesday.
However, Bilal’s letter, dated Wednesday, indicates she had a change of heart after meeting that day with advocates who informed her about the American Rescue Plan money.
“Due to this new information,” she wrote, “I believe it is in the public’s best interest for the court to postpone Sheriff’s sales...for 60 days.”
Councilwoman Cherelle Parker, a leading advocate for halting Sheriff’s sales, cast doubt on Bilal’s sudden turnaround. She noted that other witnesses at last week’s hearing testified about the federal assistance.
“That was information that came out as a result of the hearing this council held,” Parker said.
Parker also took umbrage that Bilal had sent a copy of her letter to 14 council members but neglected to include Parker, Helen Gym and Jaime Gauthier, three members who grilled Bilal most intently at the hearing.
Those three, plus 11 other members, also wrote to Judge Fox on Wednesday. They requested that she halt the sales until the federal money becomes available, and a system is put in place to connect homeowners to it.
“It is the duty of this Body to protect the residents and neighborhoods of Philadelphia, and this Body recognizes that proceeding with sheriff sales before federal assistance arrives will have a detrimental, and perhaps devastating, effect on both,” they wrote.
In halting the sales until September, Judge Fox went with Council’s request.
She said she’ll issue another order within 30 days, “setting forth the process and procedure to assist homeowners in finding available resources to access funding to assist in payment of the debt and/or tax lien; as well as a process for requesting removal from the Stay by the filing appropriate pleadings.”