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Foreclosure Relief Law Project

A wave of home foreclosures is sweeping the nation, and in Minnesota the problem has reached crisis proportions. In the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area, the number of foreclosures has tripled since 2000, with most of the increase occurring in the last couple of years. Not surprisingly, many of these foreclosures are concentrated in high poverty and minority areas. Of the 1,610 foreclosure sales in the City of Minneapolis during 2006, more than 50% occurred in zip codes 55411 and 55412 on the north side. Other local and national data strongly suggest that minorities are disproportionately victims of foreclosures.

The Foreclosure Relief Law Project (FRLP) is a new endeavor for HPP. Through this project, HPP seeks to develop legal and policy strategies to respond to this recent and ongoing foreclosure epidemic.

FRLP hopes to develop strategies that can be replicated by legal services and pro bono attorneys in order to build our legal community’s capacity to represent homeowners in foreclosure. Where appropriate and viable, FRLP intends to utilize impact litigation to achieve the most widespread results possible. FRLP is also participating in state and federal legislative efforts aimed at responding to the current crisis and reforming foreclosure laws to better protect the interests of homeowners and their communities in the future.

The FRLP intends to use its legal tools to complement the work being done by various public and philanthropic entities seeking to ameliorate the effects of mass foreclosures on communities in the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area, particularly on the hard hit areas in north Minneapolis.

The FRLP is generously funded by the Family Housing Fund. The Family Housing Fund is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to produce and preserve affordable housing for low- and moderate-income families in the Twin Cities metropolitan area.


Foreclosure Relief Law Project Staff Attorney


Mark Ireland

Mark Ireland graduated with honors from the University of Minnesota School of Law in 2000. Since graduating, Mark has represented injured people in a wide variety of consumer protection, health care, privacy, and fraud cases. In private practice, he represented plaintiffs in complex antitrust and fraud lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies who allegedly blocked less expensive generic drugs from entering the market. As an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Minnesota, Mark primarily worked in the Consumer Enforcement Division. Representing the state, he investigated or civilly prosecuted real estate developers, mortgage brokers, used car dealerships, telemarketers, debt collectors and HMOs. He also served on the National Association of Attorneys General Telemarketing Task Force and Cross-Border Fraud Task Force. Mark has spoken locally and nationally on consumer protection matters, and was named a “Rising Star” by Minnesota Law & Politics magazine. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Law at Hamline University.

Between his first and second year of law school, Mark lived in Zimbabwe. He traveled and studied land redistribution programs in southern Africa related to the high concentration of arid farm land owned by the minority-white population. Prior to law school, Mark was a Public Affairs Fellow with the Coro Foundation. He also interned for Senate Minority Leader Thomas Daschle and Vice President Al Gore.


Studies Released by FRLP


Analysis of Detailed Sheriff’s Sale Data:
Includes 2005-2006 data for ZIP codes 55411 & 55412

March 6, 2008

Overview of HPP Study Related To Foreclosures in North Minneapolis

As the number of foreclosures continues to rise, the Housing Preservation Project contracted with HousingLink to study the foreclosures that have occurred in two north Minneapolis zip codes, 55411 and 55412. Approximately half of the foreclosures that have occurred in Minneapolis in 2005 and 2006 were concentrated in those two zip codes. The first phase of this study, entitled “Analysis of Detailed Sheriff’s Sale Data: Includes 2005-2006 data for ZIP codes 55411 & 55412”, was released on March 6, 2008 and can be found at: www.hppinc.org/FRLP.

The study consists of two parts. The first phase of the study found:

  • Three out of every one hundred households in 55411 were subject to a Sheriff’s Sale or foreclosed upon in 2005, and the rate grew to five out of every one hundred households in 2006. This is over seven times the per capita foreclosure rate in Hennepin County in 2006. The per capita foreclosure rate in the 55412 zip code was approximately five times the foreclosure rate in Hennepin County in 2006.
  • Approximately 25% of the mortgages foreclosed upon in 2005 and 2006 in north Minneapolis were less than one year old, and only 3% were more than five years old.
  • Approximately 15% of borrowers in the 55411 zip code had two or more foreclosures in 2005 and 2006, and 5% of borrowers had three or more foreclosures.
  • Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. (“MERS”) was the mortgagee and Sheriff’s Sale purchaser of the highest percentage of foreclosed property in 55411 and 55412.

55411 and 55412 are two zip codes with a high percentage of people of color. According to the United States Census, in 2000, over 80% of the population in 55411 identified themselves as non-white. Approximately 51% of the population in 55412 identified themselves as non-white.

The second phase of the study will identify the specific lenders who originated the mortgages, which resulted in a foreclosure.

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Media Related to the Work of FRLP