By Gintautas Dumcius
Reporter Correspondent

In case lawmakers at the state level aren't able to pass legislation that would protect tenants and former homeowners from eviction in foreclosed buildings, city pols say they have a back-up plan: passing their own legislation.

Following the proposal recently filed by state Sen. Dianne Wilkerson, Councillor Michael Ross and others offered a similar plan this week that would mandate Boston owners seeking to foreclose have "just cause" in evicting local tenants, which they say will protect tenants who are paying rent and living at the residence legally.

The "home rule petition" needs the approval of the City Council and the Legislature. The plan would allow residents to contest convictions in Boston Municipal Court, Suffolk Superior Court, or Boston Housing Court, and would impose a fine of $10,000 on foreclosing owners who violate the plan.

The city is on pace to break 2,000 foreclosures this year, according to Ross. In 2007, there were 703 foreclosures in Boston, up from 261 in 2006, according to Ross's office. This year, through March 15, there were 246 foreclosures, compared to 85 foreclosures in the same period last year.

"It's a wasteful process, the current foreclosure process," Ross told the Reporter in a phone interview, pointing to homes sitting vacant in neighborhoods because of evictions.

The petition has the support of Councillors Michael Flaherty, Chuck Turner, Steve Murphy, Charles Yancey and Sam Yoon, and was due to come up at Wednesday's City Council meeting.

Justin Holmes, a spokesman for City Council President Maureen Feeney, said Feeney is "supportive of the concept" but reserves the opportunity to add her name and support during the meeting. "The foreclosure crisis has had a disproportionate impact on the Dorchester neighborhood and we must consider all measures to protect homeowners and tenants," Holmes said in an e-mail.

Ross said the group is working on two other bills, also modeled on Wilkerson's legislation.

One would deal with obtaining court reviews of all foreclosed mortgages and the second would deal with the creation of a moratorium on all foreclosures until court review is mandated. "The other two we're going to work on soon," he said.

A top activist with City Life/Vida Urbana praised the home rule petition and noted that some judges have shown some leniency in several recent cases.

Steve Meacham, a tenant organizer with the group, said the petition would help combat the evictions that are coming "fast and furious now," since the group is currently relying on procedural measures to make it difficult for banks to foreclose on the homes.

In three cases in the last week, the court granted between a dozen to thirty days for tenants to stay in their homes.

"We think people sign these things under intimidating pressure," Meacham said of papers the banks give to tenants. But "[t]he fundamental situation hasn't changed," despite the "genuine" sympathy from some judges, he added.

Meacham said he expects a hearing on the petition later this month. Wilkerson's bill is also on a fast track for a hearing at the State House, but faces a full slate of borrowing bills, the state budget, and other matters ahead in the long waiting line for legislation.