The Obama Administration and Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott announced last week a $26 billion foreclosure settlement between the five biggest banks and federal and state officials. I’m not taking a position on the merits of the settlement. I am worried about how the State of Texas will spend the funds it receives. Part of the […]
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Tag Archives: Foreclosure crisis
$141M in Texas foreclosure settlement funds should be used to prevent more foreclosures
February 20, 2012 
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Poll: Most think government should help homeowners in trouble
June 30, 2011 Comments Off
A new CBS News/ New York Times poll shows: Most Americans think home ownership is an important part of the American dream. About one-quarter thinks no one should receive subsidized home loans; one-quarter think everyone should; and another quarter thinks only low-income people should qualify. 45 percent would like to see government do more improving […]
Read moreNSP1-A Deadline Looms
August 30, 2010 1 Comment
Last week HUD announced the details of their enforcement of the 18-month deadline for obligation of the first round of Neighborhood Stabilization Program funds (NSP1). NSP1 is a federal program for “the purpose of assisting in the redevelopment of abandoned and foreclosed homes,” and was funded through the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA) […]
Read moreRich are defaulting on mortgages at a higher rate
July 9, 2010 1 Comment
While lots of criticism from some TV commentators has been heaped on lower-income homeowners who lost their homes to foreclosure, it’s now the rich who are defaulting more frequently on their mortgage loans. The New York Times reports today that more than one in seven homeowners with loans in excess of a million dollars are […]
Read moreAdministration proposes changes to Neighborhood Stabilization Program, including additional funding
May 26, 2010 1 Comment
In a press release Tuesday the Obama administration discussed plans to reallocate funds from the first round of the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP1) and proposed a new third round of funding (NSP3). The release states: The Administration also announced plans to reallocate funds awarded through NSP1 that have not yet been committed to specific projects, […]
Read more10 percent of Texans are behind in their home loan payments
November 24, 2009 Comments Off
Each one of the yellow squares represents a judicial mandated sale of property in San Antonio and Bexar County. Scary, huh? You can see the map live on the Bexar County Clerk’s website. In a related story, the Dallas Morning News reported this week that almost 10 percent of Texans were behind in their home loan […]
Read moreBrownsville CDC director discusses recent changes in border low-income housing and colonias
June 26, 2009 Comments Off
Homebuyers buying new houses through a CDC in Brownsville, Texas have an average income of $19,000. Low-income border families, who a decade ago would have bought lots and built homes through their own labor in a colonia, have lately been buying homes from many of the former colonia developers. Lately, these former colonia developers have […]
Read moreI want to believe the President’s financial consumer protection plan will work, but it won’t
June 20, 2009 Comments Off
President Obama adopted a fighting stance against the financial services industry today in his weekly radio address. He promised that his proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA) would protect Americans by banning unfair practices and enforcing strong new consumer protections. I want to believe. But having studied the details of the president’s plan for financial […]
Read moreAn in-depth look: financial reform called for a major overhaul but did not get one
June 20, 2009 1 Comment
In pondering the Obama administration’s Financial Regulatory Reform: A New Foundation plan announced this week I find myself agreeing with New York Times columnist Joe Nocera, who wrote on June 18: “… the Obama plan is little more than an attempt to stick some new regulatory fingers into a very leaky financial dam rather than rebuild […]
Read moreAddressing low-income families’ housing aspirations is essential to financial reform
June 19, 2009 2 Comments
You don’t have to work long in the field of affordable housing to find out how strong the desire is among many low income families to own a home. “How to I get a loan to buy a house,” is one of the most frequent questions I get asked. Often the question comes from people […]
Read moreThe Nouveau Poor foreclosure crisis slights the poor
June 18, 2009 Comments Off
You can’t help these days being struck by the amount of government and media attention heaped on the plight of people facing home foreclosure. I Googled “housing counseling” to see what advice was available to a low income person about finding subsidized rental housing. I had to search through several pages of listings of home […]
Read moreSenate Committee explores state role in easing home foreclosure problems
February 21, 2009 Comments Off
The Texas Senate Intergovernmental Relations Committee held the first of what promises to be several hearings to explore the home foreclosure crisis in Texas and the state’s role in addressing the issue. The committee, chaired by Dallas Senator Royce West (D), heard testimony from the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs and the Texas […]
Read moreNew report profiles loan delinquencies and foreclosures in Texas cities
October 29, 2008 Comments Off
A collaboration between LISC and the Urban Institute has produced a data set with “foreclosure needs scores” within Community Development Block Grant jurisdictions within each state. These scores incorporate measures of subprime lending, foreclosures, delinquency, and vacancies to help state and local officials quickly assess the relative needs of different jurisdictions for neighborhood stabilization funding. […]
Read moreWe endorse Texas Attorney General Abbott’s call for mortgage deferment legislation to help struggling homeowners
October 24, 2008 Comments Off
The Texas Low Income Housing Information Service (TxLIHIS) applauds and endorses Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott’s proposal today for a legislative initiative aimed at improving the state’s foreclosure process and helping Texas homeowners stay in their homes. The attorney general asked the Texas Legislature to enact the Texas Foreclosure Deferment Act. Under the proposed Act, […]
Read moreThe foreclosure resistant low income mortgage loan
September 21, 2008 Comments Off
The $700 billion bailout of Wall Street brought about by the subprime/ predatory mortgage debacle points out that there needs to be a better, safer and cheaper alternative mortgage for lower income families buying a home. Such a loan needs to be affordable and needs to be able to be adjusted based on the borrower’s […]
Read moreQuestions, answers, concerns about the new $4 billion foreclosed homes program in Texas
July 28, 2008 2 Comments
One of the subprograms of greatest controversy within the major housing legislation passed by Congress on Saturday (HR 3221) is Section 2301, Emergency Assistance For The Redevelopment of Abandoned and Foreclosed Homes. Initially, Present Bush threatened to veto the housing bill over this section. White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said, “The Senate bill would provide […]
Read moreNonprofit FHA downpayment assistance scheme nets 19% Texas defaults
July 5, 2008 Comments Off
I’m sorry if this makes me sound like an affordable housing hertic but this bothers me. NPR reports there are nonprofits out there that are serving as middle men (for a fee) between home sellers who want to pay a buyer’s three percent downpayment on an FHA loan and buyers who can’t come up with […]
Read moreA honest critique of media foreclosure prevention pablum
June 24, 2008 Comments Off
My friend and sometimes colleague Robert Doggett eviscerates an example of the typical advice story the media dishes out to people facing foreclosure. It is sobering. Check it out.
Read moreAn important role for state legislatures in the foreclosure crisis
June 16, 2008 Comments Off
Financial Institutions Committee Chairman Burt Solomon is reasonable and fair in approaching the issue of state regulation of financial institutions. His comments introducing last week’s hearing on the foreclosure crisis in Texas reflect the careful and conservative approach that many Southern states have taken toward defining the state’s role in addressing the crisis. Listen to […]
Read moreOne perspective on the Texas foreclosure crisis
June 15, 2008 Comments Off
View Dr. James Gaines presentation [it takes a couple minutes to begin playing] before the Texas House financial institutions committee on Texas home foreclosure data. View the slides from his PowerPoint presentation. Dr. James Gaines a research economist at Texas A&M’s Real Estate Center presented some interesting data in to the Texas House Financial Institutions […]
Read moreDealing (or not) with the foreclosure crisis in Texas
June 14, 2008 3 Comments
Watch Robert Doggett’s testimony before the Financial Services Committee, or better yet watch the entire hearing. On Wednesday Robert Doggett, in response to an invitation from the committee, testified on the behalf of TxLIHIS before the Texas House of Representatives Financial Institutions Committee. The committee was conducting an interim hearing on an interim charge to: […]
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