 The city, in partnership with a private financing company, would seek to purchase mortgages from banks at fair market value and then allow the homeowners to refinance for a minimal fee.If the banks refused, the city would seize the mortgages using the legal power of eminent domain.Defending the plan, McLaughlin said mortgage seizures were necessary to alleviate "an unjust set of circumstances" facing homeowners after the Great Recession, and the use of eminent domain would be justified for the common good by preventing urban blight caused by abandoned foreclosed homes.