June 13, 2011

Conference of Mayors, Wells Fargo Form Alliance Focused on Foreclosure Prevention, Home Ownership, Community Preservation

The U.S. Conference of Mayors and Wells Fargo announced on June 13 a national alliance focused on foreclosure prevention, property disposition, homeownership promotion and community development. The three-year outline is designed to address housing challenges through strategies developed by Wells Fargo and outreach initiatives that will involve mayors and their constituents.

“With the challenges facing our nation, it’s important that the private and public sectors work together on options that address each city’s respective needs,” said Conference of Mayors CEO and Executive Director Tom Cochran. “Wells Fargo and our members share a deep-rooted commitment to sustainable homeownership. We’ll do good work together that will benefit our joint communities.”

“This alliance demonstrates just how important Wells Fargo believes it is to connect with our country’s mayors as a resource for what is often their constituents’ and our customers’ most important asset – their homes,” said Wells Fargo Home Mortgage Servicing Executive Vice President Mary Coffin. For the U.S. Conference of Mayors, we intend to bring proven technical capabilities and educational materials through our Leading the Way Home® effort to help municipalities address the current housing crises in the cities they serve.

The alliance will seek to help improve the housing environment in communities across the country by working to educate and connect mayors to ideas, action plans and proven best practices through a variety of outreach initiatives. These efforts will include up to three regional mayoral forums during each year of the alliance. At these forums, mayors will meet face to face to exchange information with each other and learn from Wells Fargo and housing industry experts about the latest developments in efforts to address housing challenges.

According to Cochran, the Conference of Mayors has been actively involved with foreclosure issues for the last several years. The group’s efforts to this point largely have addressed effective and unique strategies, relationships and best practices around the disposition of distressed, vacant and abandoned property in local communities around the nation; including successful strategies and relationships for the disposition of REO property in local communities.

Wells Fargo’s Leading the Way Home program is a national effort focused on foreclosure prevention, stabilizing communities and promoting sustainable homeownership through education. It is designed to help communities and customers understand and act on efforts to stabilize their current housing situation and build a strong community for the future.