The state’s "middle cities" are fighting the foreclosure crisis on a number of fronts – but they need more ammunition, according to two mayors at a housing symposium in Worcester Monday.

Worcester Mayor Joseph O’Brien and New Bedford Mayor Scott Lang discussed the approaches their cities have taken to encourage homeownership at the Conference on the Future of Homeownership in Massachusetts, sponsored by the Massachusetts Association of Realtors and MassHousing.

O’Brien reviewed a number of programs the city has run, including a problem property review team; work conducted with community development corporations to reclaim foreclosed properties; and partnerships with nonprofits to encourage homeownership. He highlighted programs run by Clark University and a local hospital to help their employees with down payment assistance and contribute to revitalizing the neighborhoods where the nonprofits are located as particularly effective. 

Incentives don’t have to be huge to be effective, O’Brien said, describing a city-run program that has offered up to $3,000 in down payment assistance to entice potential buyers to go through a multi-stage homeownership program. 

"It was enough of an incentive to get them in that homebuyer class and think ‘maybe I can do this,’" said O’Brien.

Lang described how he was inspired to run for mayor in 2005 because the declining industrial base in the city had led to a spike in violent crime in New Bedford. Since taking office, decreasing crime rates and increasing economic development have been his top priorities – but he’s come to realize that battling blight is a big part of meeting each of those goals.

He described how rather than attempting to patch up a run-down public housing project in the city, he had the buildings razed and rebuilt from the ground up. He’s also razed other foreclosed homes which weren’t being maintained. Lang said he’d like to see more state and federal programs which help incentivize people to reclaim foreclosed property.

"If we lose sight of the fact that a home is safety and shelter – that if we have someone who lives in that home [permanently], it’s much different if than if you have someone who’s living there a couple months or a year," Lang said. "Homeownership is crucial to the recovery of this country."

Mayor Domenic Sarno of Springfield was scheduled to appear on the panel, but remained in Springfield to address an Occupy Springfield demonstration.