Celebrate with Us!

Happy Independence Day, everyone!  This week, we certainly appreciate the value of our democratic system at work.  On July 2, the California legislature passed the California Foreclosure Reduction Act (AB 278 / SB 900), which will finally put an end to the unfair “dual track” system—the counterproductive practice of processing foreclosure papers while also moving a family through a loan modification.  This historic step is a critical one in a series of those that will repair the housing market.

On April 19, the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the Center for Responsible Lending, and other local partners rallied on the capitol lawn in Sacramento, California in support of the proposed Housing Bill of Rights under the foreclosure act.  By invitation from the California Attorney General Kamala Harris, NCLR President and CEO Janet Murguía testified later that day, detailing the importance of prohibiting dual track.  NCLR affiliates also helped generate 400 calls to Senator Ron Calderon letting him and other decision-makers know that this is exactly what the state needs to stop the flow of needless foreclosures.  These efforts have culminated in a great success.

We know that the banks fought this legislation very aggressively.  According to Americans for Financial Reform, lenders spent $70,000 a day on lobbyists and other efforts to prevent this bill from passing.  As informed voters and advocates, we fought back and won.  The following are some of our most important wins.  The new law:

• Prohibits dual tracking where a bank forecloses on a homeowner at the same time they are negotiating a modification
• Guarantees a single point of contact for struggling homeowners
• Creates civil penalties for fraudulently signing mortgage documents (robosigning)

We know that this law will deeply and positively impact communities of color in particular, as a disproportionate number have been held in limbo or unnecessarily lost their homes when they could have received a loan modification.  Many Californians will find relief as a result of the decision, and this commonsense legislation sets a strong precedent for states to follow suit. There is still much we as advocates, homeowners, and renters can do to fight for a sound housing system, but today we have many reasons to celebrate.

Blogger Carnival: Reducing Inequality Starts in the Home

June and thus National Homeownership Month has come to a close and folks are gearing up to celebrate Independence Day. Before moving onto the 4th, though, we wanted to emphasize the importance of housing reform and market challenges by posting the great entries we received from our blog carnival. These posts celebrate National Homeownership Month and echo the main messages behind our Home for Good campaign: that we must 1) put an end to the needless foreclosures happening in some of the most vulnerable communities in the country and 2) remind our presidential candidates and other leaders to share with the nation their solutions.

This housing crisis exposed weaknesses in the housing system that have long affected low-income families and communities of color. It is estimated that 25% of Black and Hispanic borrowers in the U.S. lost homes or are at serious risk of losing their homes, compared to 12% of White borrowers. In our town hall tour, we have encountered many people who embody that statistic. They are struggling with a system that all too often is built to work against them. Through our Home for Good campaign, we aim to reduce that inequality and help keep more homeowners in their homes!

Thank you to everyone who participated, and enjoy these featured blog posts! (Originally posted on nclr.org June 29 2012)

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Loss of homes by Latino homeowners signals an erosion of equality in the nation, Marisa Treviño, Founder and Publisher, Latina Lista

LatinaLista — As June, otherwise known as National Homeownership Month, draws to an end so does the American Dream for many Americans, especially Latino and black home owners. RealtyTrac reports that banks took back 54,844 properties last month, up 7 percent from April. This is a discouraging sign in an economy where Latino homeowners have already lost 60 percent of their wealth since the onset of the housing collapse in 2008.

Puerto Rico success in homeownership, foreclosure prevention programs, Rocío González, Voxxi.com 

In an economy where foreclosures are the item of the day and minorities are bearing the brunt of it, the need to adopt successful policies is critical to help both Latinos and African Americans who are about to lose their homes. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, commonly known as HUD, is responsible for creating policies and programs to assist homeowners. However, HUD’s efforts have had difficulty taking off. 

Vacant properties in Latino communities: a discouraging irony, Julianna Gonzalez-Crussi, Policy Analyst & Housing Outreach Coordinator, Latino Policy Forum, Connector 

Take a walk down a block in any predominately-Latino neighborhood and you’ll be confronted with one the United States’ greatest present-day ironies: As one household is overcrowded, its space stretched to accommodate extended family or friends who have fallen on hard times, the home next door sits vacant, its windows covered with plywood and its yard untended. 

Out of the Spotlight: Housing Struggles Faced by Minority Populations, Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity

Housing struggles in America often become pervasive problems in people’s lives, particularly in minority communities. Spotlight has covered these issues as well, most notably in last winter’s exclusive commentary series, “How Housing Matters to Families and Communities,” undertaken in partnership with the MacArthur Foundation. 

Homeowners Can't Afford Another Missed Opportunity, Janis Bowdler, NCLR, Huffington Post, Latino Voices

When the housing bubble burst more than four years ago, many banks and federal regulators argued that the impact would be limited and the damage contained to the subprime market. Famous last words. 

Vote and Move the Needle on Housing Challenges

By Nancy Wilberg Ricks, The National Council of La Raza,

2012 is the year of the voter.  After many months of chaos, Americans continue to seek no-nonsense solutions to a floundering housing market.  Indeed, we are tired of Washington’s antics but still have confidence that we can change the status quo.  Being informed is critical to understanding the current state of the housing market and what true long-term solutions look like.

Just today, I attended The Atlantic’s Economy Summit and someone noted how astounding it was that despite the enormous number of educated Americans, many of us do not have a firm understanding of our own financial investments, the very foundation of our family’s economic livelihood.  While this statement is a bit simplistic—and, to be fair, understanding one’s own mortgage terms is no small feat—she had a point.  The biggest investment most families will make is purchasing a home, yet many families do not obtain sufficient information before diving in.  That knowledge gap increases when it comes to understanding how broader housing policy affects our day-to-day lives.  Greater education in this area is imperative, though, because despite claims that our economic health is improving, the housing market continues to struggle and we can expect further deterioration.

The National Council of La Raza (NCLR) has assembled a voter guide—2012 Election Spotlight:  See How Your Congressional Members Voted on Jobs and the Economy (Spanish version)—which will help explain economic decisions made on Capitol Hill.  The guide indicates how congressional members voted on several pieces of legislation—two Senate bills and two House bills—which deal with consumer protections, housing market improvements, and job creation.  This guide is a simple place to start and can help voters understand key political decisions that impact the economy.

In this election year, we must sharpen our understanding of what true accountability looks like in the market and why the fate of many is tied to that of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and other market aspects.  Strong community engagement and voter education can absolutely move the needle in overcoming barriers to a stable mortgage market.

Remaining Hurdles Dampen Positive Changes to the Housing Market

By Janis Bowdler, Director, Wealth-Building Policy Project

Over the past month, the Obama administration has achieved several Home for Good victories for homeowners and consumers. Among them was the bold move Obama made to appoint the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to defend consumers from abusive financial services and scams. NCLR commends the president for making this recess appointment particularly at a time when noxious politics fly in the face of strong policy. Obama also advanced provisions that will help unemployed homeowners remain in their homes for up to 12 months while they secure a new job; this is a vast improvement from previous three- and six-month time frames allotted. Finally, the administration announced the creation of a new working group that will investigate and take on offenders and abusers of the housing crisis.

Each of these incremental changes rebuilds a better financial future for those struggling to make ends meet; however, the president has been slow to offer a reform strategy for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. While the administration made a significant move to break open the yet untouchable loans in Fannie and Freddie—they tripled incentives for granting homeowners principal reductions—there remains a fly in the ointment. The adoption of principal reductions for Fannie and Freddie lies in the hands of Edward DeMarco, acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). DeMarco has refused to write down these mortgages. Since placed in his temporary FHFA position, he has become known for his narrow view of Fannie and Freddie’s role in aiding the recovery of our housing market. The added incentives remove one of the arguments he has made against principal reduction.

Principal writedowns have proven to be one of the most effective methods of helping underwater families hold onto their homes and preserve our neighborhoods. When compared with the holding costs and the loss of selling a home for pennies on the dollar at a sheriff sale, it is not difficult to see that principal reduction is a win for investors, neighborhoods, and families. The new incentives for principal reduction are not wholesale solutions; they are promising course corrections that can rebuild the housing market. If DeMarco does not seize this new opportunity to help families, the White House must relieve DeMarco of his position and permanently appoint a new director.

Photo of Edward DeMarco courtesy of FHFA. 

This was first posted to the Shelterforce blog, Rooflines

NCLR Fights to Keep Latinos in Their Homes

Stop wrongful foreclosures. Protect affordable housing. Keep responsible homeownership opportunities available. These three simple demands are at the heart of our Home for Good campaign, which was launched last April. Every day, more Americans join the ranks of those who have had their homes foreclosed upon and who have lost their jobs. In the Latino community, one in six is either at imminent risk of losing their home or has already lost it. This disturbing national crisis must be addressed immediately. 

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has been the focus of Home for Good. We put out a national call to Americans to sign a petition demanding that Sec. Geithner make the foreclosure crisis a top priority. Since making the call, we have gathered signatures through online petitions, postcards, and our mobile action network; NCLR’s supporters and allies worked diligently to spread the word. The work paid off today when the Home for Good campaign team delivered more than 10,000 signatures to Sec. Geithner’s office.

Of course, we’re not finished yet. In many ways, the hard work is just beginning. Now that Sec. Geithner has heard you loud and clear, we must continue to spread the message telling the administration and Congress to stop wrongful foreclosures and restore homeownership opportunities. Soon, NCLR will bring Home for Good to your neighborhood. We will be holding a series of town halls in communities across America to hear more about the struggles that everyday Americans are facing in this terrible economy, and we’ll focus on solutions for putting an end to the foreclosure crisis. Stay tuned, and visit back here often for news about these upcoming town halls.

Finally, be sure to check out Home for Good online, and visit us on Facebook and Twitter for the latest Home for Good news. And, if you haven’t done so, text HOME or HOGAR to 62571 to join our Home for Good mobile action network.

Home for Good Blog Carnival Roundup

Welcome to the inaugural edition of the Home for Good Blog Carnival. We asked bloggers to join us in urging folks to send an e-postcard to U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner demanding an end to wrongful foreclosures, insisting on providing affordable homes to rent, and asking him to keep safe home ownership available.

Thanks to everyone who participated! The good news is that if you haven't written your post yet, there's still time! The bad news is that the crisis is far from over—we still need your help.

The posts from the roundup:

Over at the Chicago-based Metropolitan Planning Council, Sylvia Puente, executive director of the Latino Policy Forum, notes that June marks the celebration of National Homeownership Month, but few Latinos are at the party. Puente notes that according to a Latino Policy Forum analysis of data from the Woodstock Institute, there were more than 10,000 foreclosure filings in predominately Latino communities in Chicago and its suburbs in 2010. But surely with all the refinancing options available, folks can get now get some relief, right? Wrong. One in three Latino refinance applications is denied in metropolitan Chicago, compared with just 17% of applications from non-Latinos. “Until Latinos have access to affordable mortgage options and appropriate housing counseling services, foreclosures will continue to ravage neighborhoods across the state,” Puente concludes.

From our friends at Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity, an Out of the Spotlight post notes that despite a recent uptick in home construction, millions of Americans remain at risk of losing their homes. We've all heard that one in six Latino homeowners—more than one million people—is at imminent risk of or has already lost his or her home to foreclosure. Did you know that the same is true for one in nine Black homeowners?

The post also notes that, according to a recent report from the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, not only are many Americans not purchasing homes—many cannot afford rental housing either.

Meanwhile, Tax Credits for Working Families makes a strong case for Property Tax Circuit Breakers in A Fix for the Home Ownership Crisis. Though the funky name may be off-putting, the concept behind this state tax instrument is sound: Just as an electric circuit breaker stops the flow of electricity to prevent a circuit overload, a property tax circuit breaker protects taxpayers from a property tax “overload,” reducing tax liability for individuals and families whose property tax payments are too large a percentage of family income.

The post also points out that rising property taxes are an often unrecognized factor in the homeownership crisis—even affecting renters, as costs are typically passed on to tenants in the form of rent increases.

And to our friends at Hispanicize: Many thanks for the shout-out!