Sheriff Tom Dart says he’s ordering his deputies to stop evicting people from foreclosed properties because many of the people his office helped throw out on the street are renters that “did nothing wrong.”

"We will no longer be a party to something that's so unjust," a visibly angry Cook County Sheriff at a news conference on Wednesday.

In San Francisco, Dart’s concerns were supported by other local law enforcement. Deputies in the city carry out an estimated 70 evictions every week, but Sheriff Mike Hennessey says like other departments around the state, they don't know why someone's being evicted, whether it’s a foreclosure, back rent, or illegal activity, but it is a court order.

“One of my predecessors… refused to do an eviction at the international hotel and was held in contempt of court and put in jail himself.”

San Francisco, which has been hit by fewer foreclosures than many other parts of Northern California, does have a foreclosure assistance program. The state bar association is also now offering help to homeowners and renters in need through a new website which will have mortgage foreclosure information and access to legal help.
KCBS’ Janice Wright reports

Illinois law requires that renters be notified that their residence is in foreclosure and they will be evicted in 120 days, but Dart indicated that the law has been routinely ignored.  He says that from now on, banks will have to present his office with a court affidavit that proves the home's occupant is either the owner or has been properly notified of the foreclosure proceedings.

This week, an attorney asked that Dart be held in contempt when his deputies did not evict tenants after determining they were not the owners and did not know about their landlord's financial problems.

A judge denied the attorney's request, Dart's office said, and Dart said that after talking to the Cook County state's attorney's office, he is confident he is on solid legal ground.

"My job as sheriff is to follow court orders, absolutely," he said. "But I'm also in charge of making sure justice is being done here and it is clear that justice is not being done here."

Dart said he believes banks are not doing basic research to determine that the people being evicted are, in fact, the homeowners.

He said that in a third of the 400 to 500 foreclosure evictions his deputies had been carrying out every month, the residents are not those whose names are on the eviction papers.

Dart said it's only fair for banks to give occupants of a foreclosed property adequate notice before forcing them out.

"You are talking about a lot of people in rental situations living paycheck to paycheck," he said. "To think they are sitting on a pool of money for an up-front deposit, security deposit, is foolishness."

(cfu)