The United States is currently embroiled in a historic housing crisis. Barely a day passes without news coverage of more families facing the prospect of losing their home. Another effect of the national housing crisis is the drag on overall property values due to abandonment. Fortunately, local leaders like Boston Mayor Thomas Menino are trying to tackle this issue head on.

The City of Boston, mainly its poorest areas, has been hit particularly hard by the foreclosure crisis. According to Boston's Department of Neighborhood Development, the number of foreclosures in 2007 was double the number of foreclosures over the previous three years combined. It is not just the number of foreclosures that is the problem. When houses are vacated, especially in poorer neighborhoods, they often attract vandalism and crime, which, in Boston's case, has decreased property values by as much as 15 percent in some areas.

In an effort to get neighborhoods staggered by foreclosures back on their feet, Mayor Menino has established the Foreclosure Intervention Team (FIT). FIT consists of representatives from many of Boston's agencies and is responsible for dealing with the issues of abandonment, protecting the homes from vandalism and removing debris and garbage that has collected after a family is evicted suddenly. Members of FIT include representatives from Boston's Police Department, Inspectional Services, Department of Neighborhood Development, Public Health Commission, Corporation Counsel, Public Works, Public Property, Fair Housing Commission, Housing Authority, and Redevelopment Authority.

FIT has been helpful to the Henry Street neighborhood in Dorchester, a neighborhood hit particularly hard by foreclosures. When FIT's work was done abandoned homes had been properly secured, graffiti had been removed, missing street and parking signs had been replaced, and abandoned cars were towed. Additionally, streets, sidewalks,and empty lots have been swept of debris and household trash. The overall improvement of the neighborhood has helped in partially stabilizing property values.

The City of Boston, behind Mayor Menino's direction is also attacking this problem at the source, working directly with mortgage companies directing them to take better care of, or sell, foreclosed properties without government intervention. In fact, in January, Mayor Menino worked with mortgage companies who are holding large amounts of foreclosed property in Boston about ways to improve those properties and to work with the city itself in order to begin selling those buildings as quickly as possible.

As we search for answers to the foreclosure crisis, it is reassuring there are leaders such as Mayor Thomas Menino out there are working diligently to combat the crisis' devastating and diverse effects.