Bronx foreclosure filings climb as courthouse clinics and outreach teams offer free help
With first-time foreclosures in the Bronx at a seven-year high, officials and nonprofits are urging struggling homeowners to seek free help early.
Real estate data company PropertyShark counted 109 first-time foreclosures in the Bronx during this year’s second quarter. No quarter in the past seven years has come close to that number, and the borough moved upward even as citywide foreclosures fell.
The Center for New York City Neighborhoods, a group that supports homeowners, puts the 2025 total at more than 1,000 Bronx residents who received a foreclosure filing. City and state agencies, along with local groups, are now widening their outreach in the hope that owners behind on their mortgages will come forward well before they risk losing the house.
Kimberly Fenelon of Hunts Point is one of those owners. She inherited the remaining mortgage on her late mother’s home after her mother died of cancer, and as a single parent of a young daughter she fell behind on payments. On the day after Christmas, while mother and daughter were building snowmen outside, a woman walked up and gave Fenelon the foreclosure papers. “I was stunned,” she said.
Free foreclosure help for Bronx homeowners
Last weekend, volunteers with the state attorney general’s office went door to door across the North Bronx, the part of the borough where foreclosures are most concentrated. They reached more than 1,100 homes, handing out details on assistance programs and warning owners about scams such as deed theft. Attorney General Letitia James told the volunteers before they set out, “There cannot be prevention without education.”
Three free legal clinics for homeowners followed the walk. Two are standing clinics held at the Bronx County civil courthouse. The third was a resource fair at Bronx House, a community center in Pelham Parkway, put on jointly by the attorney general’s office and the Center for NYC Neighborhoods. Around 125 people came to meet with nonprofits and city agencies there.
Why Bronx homeowners are falling behind
Christie Peale, chief executive of the center, said plenty of owners facing a sudden setback simply do not know that help exists. Her team can do more, she said, for people who make contact early.
Peale linked the rise to the broader affordability squeeze. When incomes fail to keep pace with climbing property taxes and living costs, she said, staying current on a mortgage gets harder.
Quick answers
Where can Bronx homeowners get free foreclosure help?
Two standing clinics at the Bronx County civil courthouse offer free legal counsel to homeowners worried about foreclosure.
When should homeowners ask for help with mortgage trouble?
As early as possible. The Center for New York City Neighborhoods says people who reach out early are easier to help.
What scams are Bronx homeowners being warned about?
Outreach volunteers warned residents about scams such as deed theft.
