NEW YORK, NY January 23, 2007 —Foreclosure rates are going up in the city, nowhere more so than on Staten Island. WNYC's Cindy Rodriguez reports.

REPORTER: In 2006, there were over 3100 properties in Staten Island at different stages of foreclosure. That's a 47% increase compared to the previous year according to the California based group Realtytrac.

Margaret Becker is an attorney for the Foreclosure Prevention Project in Staten Island. She says her group has received numerous calls from people about to lose their homes and most were in trouble because they had loans they couldn't afford in the first place

BECKER: I've seen mortgage loan applications where clients income is falsified to make it look like they have higher income and therefore they can afford the loan they are being given.

REPORTER: She says one client has a mortgage payment higher then his gross monthly income. The foreclosure rate in Staten Island is higher than the national average. It's also the highest of all five boroughs. Brooklyn is next followed by Queens . For WNYC, I'm Cindy Rodriguez.