Foreclosure report surprises Kane County Board committee

Perhaps lulled into a sigh of relief by a slowdown in the rate of increase of foreclosures in Kane County, a county board committee expressed surprise at a new report indicating the number of recent foreclosures is still trending up.

The Kane County Recorder's office processes many of the documents associated with foreclosure filings. The office issued a report Monday showing the number of foreclosure documents filed from April through June is up by a little more than 200 from the same quarter last year. That increase continues a trend that began in late 2005, according to the report. The Daily Herald reported just last month that Kane County saw a 72 percent increase in foreclosures from June of 2009 to June 2010. But members of the county board's Public Service Committee said they were surprised by the recorder's report.

"This definitely wasn't our impression," Committee Chairman Phil Lewis said. "This shows it's trending up. So the facts are that the foreclosure rate continues to increase."

Committee member Hollie Lindgren also said the report goes against what she'd heard.

"I was understanding that it was going down," she said. Lindgren represents Carpentersville, which is among the areas hardest hit by foreclosures.

Historically, the recorder's office report said foreclosures have hit unprecedented levels. In 1990, Kane County had 262 foreclosures for the whole year. In 2000, that number grew to 660 foreclosures. Through six months of 2010, Kane County saw about 3,900 foreclosures, according to the recorder's office. Part of the increase is attributable to banks going after developers and not just single-family homeowners at this point of the foreclosure crisis, the report stated.