About two-thirds of 211 officials surveyed by the National League of Cities reported an increase in foreclosures in their cities in the past year, according to the online and e-mail questionnaire. A third of them reported a drop in revenues and an increase in abandoned and vacant properties and urban blight.
“There’s a reduction in revenues at the same time that more services are needed,” says Cynthia McCollum, president of the National League of Cities and councilwoman in Madison, Ala., a suburb of Huntsville. “Because of foreclosures, people are stealing, crime is on the rise and we don’t have more money for cops on the street.”
More than a fifth of city officials responding said homelessness and the need for temporary and emergency housing increased in the past year.
The ills of foreclosures are dominating the agenda of the league’s meeting with congressional lawmakers in Washington, D.C., this week to secure federal funding for local initiatives.
“The American dream for individuals has now become the nightmare for cities,” says James Mitchell, a Charlotte councilman and head of the group’s National Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials.
MSN Money has a story today making the claim that foreclosures is an overblown story–that the problem is largely limited to certain regions where the cost of homes increased dramatically over the past 5 years (in some places, increases of over 100% in 5 years) and that nationally, foreclosures involve a small percentage of home owners: url=http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Banking/HomeFinancing/ForeclosureCrisisIsOverblown.aspx]MSN Money[/url] One notable exception is Detroit, which has its own set of problems.
Let me try the link again: [url=http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Banking/HomeFinancing/ForeclosureCrisisIsOverblown.aspx]MSN Money[/url]
yes, nearly every story I read focuses on the Inland Empire area of So. Cal. Is the problem so pervasive? I’m not convinced.
California is the extreme case, because it became so overheated. The problem is pervasive in many, many areas of the US, particularly in exurbia. And the speculators and who dreamed up ‘creative’ banking and credit products made their millions — and the US taxpayer will be left to pay the (Chinese) piper. Watch the news. Every day, another shoe is dropping in the hedge fund and investment banking industry, all linked to the ‘packaging and repackaging’ of subprime loans. It’s a disaster which the next Administration (whomever leads it) will be left to pick up. NOT a pretty picture!