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Testimony Before the Council of the District of Columbia,
Committee on Public Services and Consumer Affairs
Foreclosures in the District of Columbia
July 8, 2008
"Data from the Federal Reserve indicate that at least 2,000 subprime adjustable-rate loans in D.C. will reset in the next two years. The situation is especially serious for homeowners living in wards and neighborhoods experiencing larger concentrations of foreclosures. Many of these neighborhoods, such as those east of the Anacostia River, had been exhibiting strong home price growth through this past year, indicating a renewed interest in these communities. Large concentrations of foreclosures, however, could be a serious setback toward efforts to increase homeownership and attract investment to these neighborhoods."
Tackling the Mortgage Crisis: 10 Action Steps for State Government
May 29, 2008
“When large numbers of homes are foreclosed, market demand is insufficient to absorb them. Properties, therefore, have little value and are more likely to be abandoned or bought by a speculator and “flipped” than sold to a new homeowner… Where foreclosures lead to abandonment, neighborhoods can quickly destabilize. Abandoned properties contribute to crime and fire hazard, diminishing the value of surrounding homes. A single abandoned house on a block, as a Philadelphia study found, can reduce the value of nearby properties by 15 percent. Abandoned properties also place growing demands on services, which financially strapped older cities are hard-pressed to provide.”
Oversight and Government Reform Committee Hearing
Neighborhoods: The Blameless Victims of the Subprime Mortgage Crisis
May 21, 2008
“Our results show that foreclosures not only harm the homeowners involved, but also hurt neighboring properties, the community itself, and tenants. Whatever the outcome of the debate over the desirability of assisting homeowners facing foreclosure (or their creditors), therefore, there is a justification for intervening in the foreclosure crisis to protect neighbors, tenants and communities, who our results reveal are bearing a significant part of the cost of foreclosures.”
Oversight and Government Reform Committee Hearing
Neighborhoods: The Blameless Victims of the Subprime Mortgage Crisis
May 21, 2008
“HR 5818 is a strong step in the right direction: it recognizes that the neighborhood impact of the foreclosure meltdown takes the form of a ripple effect going beyond the private troubles of foreclosed families; that foreclosure-driven blight will not be reversed by a “market correction;” that foreclosure-driven blight is a public issue requiring pubic policy interventions
Oversight and Government Reform Committee Hearing
Neighborhoods: The Blameless Victims of the Subprime Mortgage Crisis
May 21, 2008
“It is now widely recognized that preserving urban neighborhoods requires that qualified, capable local entities gain control of the thousands of vacant properties that
have been created through subprime mortgage defaults and foreclosures. Without such steps, these properties will languish, particularly in weak market cities. While banks and mortgage companies may spend money to preserve the value of their REO assets in San Diego or Las Vegas, they are not doing so in Cleveland or Detroit.”
House Committee on Financial Services Hearing
Using FHA for Housing Stabilization and Homeownership Retention
April 10, 2008
"[This] legislation’s proposed state loan and grant program would significantly strengthen and expand state HFA initiatives in this area. States are well positioned to undertake this program, as many are already engaged in the kinds of initiatives it is designed to support. We can direct these new, but limited, resources to the areas that need them most. States have strong strategic partnerships with local communities and nonprofits that will be essential to the program’s success, and we can bring other resources we administer, like the Housing Credit, to bear in addressing this problem."
House Committee on Financial Services Hearing
Using FHA for Housing Stabilization and Homeownership Retention
April 10, 2008
"...neighborhoods are struggling to keep up with the challenges created by vacant and abandoned properties. The concept of extending a combination of loans and grants to states and cities to address this issue is one that NCLR supports. Cities require flexible dollars to address the fallout from foreclosure according to their market needs."
Senate Banking, Housing and Affairs Committee Hearing
Strengthening Our Economy: Foreclosure Prevention and Neighborhood Preservation
January 31, 2008
"…the foreclosure crisis also threatens the health and stability of many low and moderate income communities that will face disproportional concentrations of foreclosed properties. Without strategic federal intervention and resource deployment, these foreclosed properties will destabilize communities, erode tax bases, bring down property values of neighboring homes and undermine decades of progress in impacted neighborhoods by furthering a cycle of abandonment and disinvestment.”
Senate Banking, Housing and Affairs Committee Hearing
Strengthening Our Economy: Foreclosure Prevention and Neighborhood Preservation
January 31, 2008
“Foreclosures and steeply falling house prices affect their neighbors who may have paid off their mortgages long ago, their communities whose tax bases are eroding quickly, and by extension, all Americans… Rapid and sustained declines in home equity depress consumer spending, contributing significantly to erosion in the real economy. Further declines in home prices, moreover, significantly and predictably increase defaults and foreclosures, and the vicious cycle of house price declines, defaults and foreclosures continues.”
State Summit on Foreclosures and Housing Solutions
The State Summit on Foreclosures and Housing Solutions offered state policymakers the opportunity to hear from national experts on actions states could take to mitigate the rising number of foreclosures, prevent future foreclosures, and sustain neighborhoods in a weakening economy.
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