(Chicago News Cooperative) — Although it never shared the notoriety of Miami, Los Angeles and Phoenix during America’s foreclosure crisis, the Chicago area now has the nation’s largest inventory of foreclosed homes because it is harder to unload troubled properties here than in most other metropolitan areas.  The inventory data compiled by RealtyTrac, a California company that tracks housing sales, place Chicago first among the country’s 20 largest metropolitan areas. Real estate experts attribute the high concentration of foreclosures to numerous factors including the strong protections built into Illinois law to protect borrowers, the impact of the “robo-signing” investigation by the Illinois Attorney General, and the reluctance of banks to dump properties at prices far below the value of mortgage loans on their books.

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(Bloomberg) — Four major U.S. cities that pay for the upkeep of foreclosed properties are trying to recoup the costs of services including lawn mowing, repairs and security by suing banks they claim contributed to their “urban blight.”  A federal judge in Memphis, Tennessee, on May 4 and another in Baltimore on April 22 denied Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC)’s request to dismiss the predatory-lending lawsuits brought against the bank. A lawsuit by the city of Cleveland against JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and Ally Financial Inc. is also pending before an Ohio judge.  In one case, Deutsche Bank AG, described by Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen Trutanich as one of the city’s “major slumlords,” may be found liable for hundreds of millions of dollars, including restitution for current and former tenants, according to a statement by the city.  “We started out looking to sue as many as 16 lenders,” Webb Brewer, a lawyer who represents Memphis, said in a telephone interview. “It’s a tall order to fight all those banks at once. We never alleged that Wells Fargo was alone in employing these practices.”

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By Brittany Hutson and R. Asmerom

It’s certainly been a whirlwind decade for the Black community to say the least. We’ve witnessed history making moments, events that brought to light the struggles that still plague our community, devastating natural disasters, and moments that caused us to scratch our head, raise an eyebrow and think ‘what the…?’ Take a stroll down memory lane with us as we recap some of those moments:

Hurricane Katrina

One of the five deadliest hurricanes in the history of the U.S., Katrina caused devastation when it hit the Gulf Coast states (from Florida to Texas) in August 2005. New Orleans bore the brunt of the devastation as the category 3 storm with maximum winds near 125 mph caused the levies to break and flood nearly 80% of the city. The nation was in utter shock as images filtered across television screens, on websites and in publications of residents stranded on the roof of flooded homes, or in boats, waiting for help without water or food.

Katrina caused the deaths of at least 1,836 people and caused immense damage—early estimates of total property damage were $81 billion. Over one million people were displaced and sought solace in cities such as Houston, TX, Mobile, Ala, Baton Rouge, La, and Chicago.  Federal, state and local governments were criticized for their mismanagement and delayed response to the storm.

When the real estate bubble popped in 2008, even the rich and famous weren’t immune from the consequences. As of October, foreclosure filings–default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions–were reported on 332,172 properties, a 4% decrease from the previous month but almost exactly the same total reported in October 2009, according to RealtyTrac, an online marketplace for foreclosure properties. Here’s a look at some highly publicized foreclosures since 2008:

Michael Jackson

Known as “the most famous foreclosure ever,” the king of pop defaulted on a $24.5 million loan in 2008 for his 2,676-acre Neverland Ranch in Los Olivos, Calif., which included an amusement park, a zoo, and giant statues. To avoid foreclosure, he sold the property to a real estate investment company, Colony Capital LLC. There were plans to renovate and re-sell it but presently, nothing has come to fruition.