Print version by Ashton Nichols, Samantha Raudins, Lukas Udstuen and Lucia Walinchus
Broadcast version by Mary Schuermann Kuhlman
Reporting for the Eye on Ohio, The Ohio Center for Investigative Journalism-Ohio News Connection Collaboration


This story was funded by a grant from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting

For years, Elliot Feltner's father-in-law operated an auto body shop in Cleveland. Later in life, a stroke debilitated the old mechanic, and his care proved a heavy burden for Feltner's wife, Linda.

Not long after burying her father, in 2009, Linda Feltner discovered her chronic cough was more than just bronchitis: it was cancer. She died three years later.

When Elliot Feltner finally sorted through the medical bills and the loss of his only family, he discovered the body-shop property he inherited owed considerable back taxes, which he couldn't afford. So he put the shop up for sale and told the county he'd use the proceeds to pay off the debt.

But after signing a buyer, the sale fell through because Feltner discovered the property had already been sold to the county land bank, he said without his knowledge.

"They called me one day and said, 'You don't own the property. Someone else does.' And I was devastated," he said.

The land bank then gave the property, valued at $144,500 in county records, to a private company that paid nothing for it. And taxpayers recovered none of the $68,089 in taxes and interest owed to them, money that could have gone to roads, schools and emergency services.

"The government can take properties through public domain. That's been the law for decades. But there's never been an occasion where the government has been allowed to take a property without compensating the owner for its value," said former Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann, who represents Feltner in the case.

In November 2019, Feltner's case reached the Ohio Supreme Court. Justices typically take an average of about six months to decide a case, said Edward Miller, the court's director of the Office of Public Information, although the time can vary widely.

"I think everybody's acting in good faith here. I don't think anyone has got bad intentions. But these folks, and particularly the folks at the land banks who are passing these properties on, had to know that there was value being taken from people in the process and that's not OK. The County Board of Revision would know because, guess what? The County Board of Revision also decides what the value of the property is. There's a county record that tells you what the value of the property is," Dann said. "(They were) stealing people's equity very consciously and openly."

Cuyahoga County declined to comment on the case, citing pending litigation. East Side Automotive Services, Inc. did not respond to requests to comment.

In 2006, the Ohio Legislature passed the fast-track law, although it wasn't widely used until the mortgage crisis of 2008. Not to be confused with a later-expedited foreclosure process that goes through the court system, House Bill 294 created an administrative foreclosure process that skips the court entirely. Foreclosures instead end up at the Board of Revision, the panel that normally looks at the valuation of properties when a taxpayer thinks their property tax is too high.

Members of that board don't have to be lawyers; in fact, most are not. Its members also often are on the board of the county land bank, which receives most properties. Those properties then are passed, with clean title and no liens, onto developers.

"They are good people," Dann said, referring to the Cuyahoga Land Bank, "and they are very, very sincere in their desire to improve the community. And I can't compliment them enough on the innovation and the determination they brought to the process. But you can't do it without following the constitution. And that's the difference. You can't cut corners."

The Ohio Center for Investigative Journalism searched through thousands of records in Montgomery and Cuyahoga counties, where the greatest volume of Board of Revision foreclosures take place, to add up the costs to taxpayers, homeowners, and mortgage lenders.
In 2019, the Montgomery County Treasurer filed 207 unique foreclosure cases in the board. If all those cases close, taxpayers will lose out on at least $2,251,870 owed to public coffers.

In 141 of those cases, the house's value exceeded the amount of taxes owed. Homeowners, mortgage lenders and other lienholders lost or will lose up to $2,796,140 in 2019 alone. (Although houses sold at sheriff sales don't often fetch their listed value.)

In Cuyahoga County, the County Treasurer filed 3,856 Board of Revision cases in 2018 and 2019. If those cases close, homeowners and banks will lose $77 million worth of their houses' value. Taxpayers, who would have received $9 million at a sheriff's sale, instead get none of that money toward community services.

Homeowners in those cases owed a median of $1,249 in back taxes. In 855 cases, the outstanding tax amount is less than $500.
This amount vastly underestimates the amount of taxes owed to the county, however. In most cases, the government asked for restitution far below the amount owed. In one case, the treasurer asked for 13 cents in taxes -- both spelled out and in decimals -- for a property that hadn't paid its full tax bill since 2008.

John Lamb, a project engineer from Columbus, lost a property that had been in his family since 1965.

"It sucked of course. That house had a ton of memories," Lamb said. "We would go up there every Fourth of July when I was a kid."

His grandparents originally had built the house. But after his grandmother, followed by his mother, died shortly after his college graduation, he was overwhelmed with medical bills and had no other family for support.

To skip the court system, counties have to formally adopt the special Board of Revision foreclosure process. Eleven have done so, but most have not.

In Montgomery County, developers who do get free properties still have to pay a service fee, usually $3,000 to $5,000. New owners are also required to maintain the property up to community zoning standards, such as cutting the grass and fixing any broken windows, within six months of acquiring the property's title.

All properties that go through the Board of Revision process also are legally required to be vacant properties. But determining who lives at a property can be particularly difficult if homeowners take an extended leave of absence or the homeowner died, said Andrew Engel, who represents an heir who lost her share of her mother's home through the Montgomery County Board of Revision process. Her class-action case is pending in the Southern District of Ohio.

"Many of these property owners can't afford an attorney. Based upon my review of hundreds and hundreds of these cases in Montgomery County, the properties that go through these foreclosures are often owned or located in the poorer portions of town. And it seems that those at the lower end of the economic scale are bearing the brunt of this process," Engel said.

The Montgomery County Auditor's Office, the Montgomery County Treasurer's Office and the Montgomery County Board of County Commissioners declined to comment on the matter because it's against county policy when there is ongoing litigation, said Mike Brill, communications and community engagement manager at the Montgomery County Auditor's Office.

In October, Marc Dann filed a class action lawsuit against Cuyahoga County, on behalf of all similar parties. The County filed a motion to dismiss. The case still is pending in Ohio's Northern District federal court.

This collaboration is funded in part by the Ohio News Media Foundation, The Cleveland Foundation and The George Gund Foundation, and is produced in association with Media in the Public Interest.



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Residents in a rural North Carolina town grappling with economic challenges are getting a pathway to homeownership.

In Enfield, the average annual income is about $25,000, while the average home price in the state exceeds $300,000. The significant gap between income and housing costs makes homeownership unattainable for many residents.

Mondale Robinson, mayor of Enfield, said it is an issue with which he is all too familiar, having grown up in the town. He acknowledged the dire housing conditions faced by many residents.

"Housing there is third-world," Robinson asserted. "And I know that term is not politically correct, but I use it intentionally to remind people that while we may be in the so-called richest country in the world, my people are suffering from houses that are killing them."

He pointed out many people in the town are living things like severe mold or failing foundations. Recognizing the challenges posed by limited resources both on a town and federal level, Robinson explained he is tackling the issue by forming partnerships with construction firms and lending institutions. He noted through the Horizon Project, they aim to build energy-efficient homes priced affordably at about $105,000.

Robinson highlighted historically, the majority of Black residents there have been marginalized from experiencing positive changes in their neighborhoods. He explained previous investments focused on constructing homes that were unaffordable for the community. Robinson expressed optimism the initiative will serve as a foundation for achieving long-term equality and stability.

"We had a qualification seminar where we brought people in to see if they qualify for homes," Robinson recounted. "Of those 400 people that showed up, 174 already prequalified and have already started ordering their model homes and on the process to become homeowners."

He added families who qualify will receive smart homes with two to four bedrooms, an opportunity most people living on an hourly wage in the town would not have had access to.

In addition to the housing aspect of the project, Robinson emphasized the importance of economic development and sustainability. He said they will offer training to help new homeowners maintain their property.

He stressed another major part of the Horizon project is meant to help promote growth in the town and return ownership to the people who live there.

"When all of these new houses pop up in this rural space, we know what's to follow, businesses to follow," Robinson projected. "Also, we're looking for the mental victory that folk feel when they've purchased a home, alleviating the fact that you have a landlord that is not concerned with how your health is affected by the house you're living in."

By addressing housing affordability and promoting economic empowerment, Robinson hopes the Horizon Project will serve as a blueprint for similar initiatives across North Carolina and beyond. Qualified families will move into new homes by June, while ongoing support aims to assist others in future qualification.


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New York State housing advocates say they are furious about the so-called "good cause eviction bill" in the new state budget.

It grants tenant protections to people in New York City but all other municipalities will need to opt in. It also requires renters to know their landlord's portfolio to determine eligibility for "good cause" eviction protections and the information can be hard to find.

Ritti Singh, communications organizer for the group Housing Justice for All, said previous iterations would have balanced tenant and landlord interests.

"What it required landlords to do was to show they had a valid cause of eviction, which would include nonpayment, violating the lease, causing trouble, if the landlord wanted to move into the unit," Singh outlined. "It also allowed tenants to contest rent increases over 3%, or 1.5 times the rate of inflation."

For all its potential benefits, a New York University study noted "good cause" eviction comes with just as many drawbacks. It can discourage maintenance investments in buildings, and increase the cost of resolving landlord-tenant disputes. Singh noted the bill was not designed to crimp a landlord's ability to do business but to make the housing system fairer.

Cities like Rochester and Ithaca are close to declaring housing emergencies due to rising rents. Municipalities must have a vacancy study rate below 5% to declare a housing emergency. Singh pointed out the housing crisis affects renters statewide.

"Rents are rising faster in Syracuse than they are in New York City," Singh emphasized. "In March, rents hit record highs in New York City. Rural New York is expected to see a surge of evictions over the next decade, and Long Island renters face the highest cost burdens in all of New York State."

Newburgh declared a housing emergency last year but the Orange County Supreme Court recently overturned the decision. The petitioners' attorney argued Newburgh's vacancy study was inaccurate. The Emergency Tenant Protection Act does not cover the city's renters now and jeopardizes other tenant protections the city has proposed.


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Oregon lawmakers passed a major housing package in this year's session, but said easing the state's housing crisis will take more work.

Bills passed during the short legislative session will send a total of $376 million to address the state's housing shortage, including Senate Bill 1530 and Senate Bill 1537, priorities for Gov. Tina Kotek.

Shannon Vilhauer, executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Oregon, said the governor's housing package is groundbreaking.

"We also see important investments in emergency housing assistance, addiction recovery support and renters protections," Vilhauer pointed out. "Those are all investments that are going to help stabilize Oregonians in need of housing assistance and benefit the communities we all share."

The housing package includes funds for housing and homelessness projects and to support counties buying land and developing properties.

However, Vilhauer argued there is still more to do to address the crisis. During the next legislative session, she hopes the state will help first-time homebuyers, as well as make other investments.

"Preserving affordable rental homes that exist now but are at risk of terming out of their affordability and going market rate," Vilhauer explained. "We'd love to see that affordable housing preservation investment move forward in a strong way."

Vilhauer acknowledged the housing issue in Oregon cannot be solved immediately. It is a problem decades in the making.

"It will take a concerted effort over time to continue to make headway," Vilhauer stressed. "We're starting to get there but we need to keep going with a sustained effort."


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