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city's long-term stability. An innovative city-wide initiative known as the Neigh- borhoodAction Program is setting the stage for improved neighborhood livability. The city also established a comprehensive foreclosure response plan. Together, these two efforts are success- fully combating the city's most pressing problems and preserving Brooklyn Park's neighborhoods. The goal of the Neighborhood Action Program is to reduce crime and improve the livability of challenged and distressed single-family neighborhoods. The city established aproblem-solving collaborative among city departments designed to promote information-shar- ing and strategic deployment of resources.The effort created synergies that gave rise to new crime-fighting and quality-of--life improvement strate- gies and tools, such as: ^ Increased information exchanges between city departments and resi- dent groups to leverage resident involvement in problem-solving efforts. ^ Enhanced law enforcement presence focusing on repeat criminal offenders that have negatively affected the safety of the community. ^ Increased property maintenance inspections and code enforcement in focus areas to improve the quality of life in neighborhoods. ^ Financing assistance for homeowners to make needed repairs and upgrades as well as redevelopment of blighted properties. ^ New databases to identify, track, and arrest repeat criminal offenders. ^ New analysis methods to measure the effectiveness of crime-fighting and code enforcement strategies. ^ New licensing enforcement policies to deal with problem rental property owners and unlicensed rental properties. Monitoring the rapid increase in prop- erty foreclosures, Brooklyn Park recog- nized the need to develop a systematic plan to mitigate the expected impacts of foreclosures.These anticipated impacts included increasing property vacancy, increasing code enforcement caseloads, and utility shut-offs.The response plan contains three primary strategies: (1) foreclosure prevention, (2) preservation and maintenance of foreclosed homes, and (3) foreclosure recovery. Foreclosure prevention Preventing foreclosures provides com- munities the biggest bang for the buck. Foreclosure prevention counseling is free to all Minnesotans, and Brooklyn Park works closely with the Home- ownership Center and Community Action Partnership for Suburban Hen- nepin to deliver these services to residents. The city has had office hours for a foreclosure prevention counselor one day a week at City Hall.This provides an added level of convenience for resi- dents, allowing them to drop in for free counseling. Enhancing outreach through marketing and special events has also been critical to make home- owners aware of this free resource. Foreclosure prevention counseling has been able to help avoid foreclosure for 20 percent to 30 percent of people seeking assistance. Given the circum- stances, this success rate is tremendous. Preservation and maintenance Recognizing that not all foreclosures can be prevented, preserving and main- taining foreclosed homes helps prevent further property damage and value loss. Streamlining processes, enhancing cross- department communication, and ramp- ing up code enforcement efforts have helped make this successful. City departments work together to identify vacant and foreclosed homes, properly secure vacant units, turn off water service when necessary, and mon- itor properties for unsafe conditions until they are reoccupied. While staff- intensive, these efforts protect homes from vandalism and broken pipes that can cause water damage. Foreclosure recovery Even with aggressive preservation and maintenance efforts, some homes are damaged to such an extent that they are unlikely to be immediately reoccupied and may even need to be demolished. For those homes that can be fixed, repair costs often exceed resale value, providing little incentive for private market rehabilitation. Fortunately, through the Housing and Economic Recovery Act, the fed- eral government has made available Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) funding to help address these challenges. Brooklyn Park will utilize its NSP funding to promote foreclosure recovery in the following manner: MAY 2009 MIN NL'SOTA CITIES ^ Establish partnerships with for-profit and nonprofit developers to acquire and rehabilitate foreclosed homes, and put them up for sale. ^ Remove homes creating a blighting influence in neighborhoods through direct acquisition and demolition. ^ Create homebuyer incentive pro- grams for the purchase and/or reha- bilitation of foreclosed properties. Witnessing national and even global crises destabilize our neighborhoods is a reminder of the fragility of our cit- ies and the extent to which they are subject to events beyond our control. It is easy for local leaders to be over- come with a sense offutility.This kind of environment, however, provides an opportunity to showcase the hard work of individuals involved in local govern- ment and leads to innovation that pays long-term dividends. Successful communities pay close attention to national and global trends and continually assess how these trends will play out at the local level. The abil- ity to anticipate change and respond with a strong plan of action should be a core competency of every community. Continue the conversation at the LMC Annual Conference What innovative solutions has your city developed to deal with the foreclosure crisis? Whenever possible, be sure to share an idea that worked for your city and spread the news about innovative solutions. Cities will have a great opportunity for sharing ideas at the League of Minnesota Cities (LMC) 2009 Annual Conference and Market- place June 24-26 in St. Paul.You can learn more about dealing with the fore- closure crisis as well as a variety of other important topics. For more infor- mation and to register for the confer- ence, visit www lme.org/page/1/ annual-conference09;jsp. t Jamie T/erbrugye is the city manager of Brooklyn Park. E-mail: Jamie. herbrugge@ brooklynpark. org. Jason Aarsvold is economic and redevelopment director with Brooklyn Park. E-mail:_jason.Aarsvold@brooklyn- park.org. Kimberly Berggren is development project manager with Brooklyn Park. E-mail: Kimberly.Ber~gren@brooklypark. org. T~erbrugge and Aarsvold will be present- ing the LMCAnnual Conference session, "Tackling Foreclosure Problems."