April 14, 2009 – (RealEstateRama) — Representative Maxine Waters (D-CA) hosted a field hearing of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity in Los Angeles on March 28. The hearing, “The Housing Crisis in Los Angeles and Responses to Preventing Foreclosures and Foreclosure Rescue Fraud,” brought together panelists to share testimonies on their experiences with foreclosure issues in Los Angeles area.
The panelists included leaders of local nonprofit groups, city, county and state officials, and Los Angeles’ residents who receive federal housing vouchers. Susie Shannon, Housing Advocate for the Los Angeles Coalition to End Hunger and Homelessness, explained that there was an affordable housing crisis even before the economic downturn. She proposed a national freeze on the demolition of public housing units and supported one-for-one replacement of redeveloped public housing and the right of residents to return to their redeveloped housing.
While much of the hearing focused on foreclosures’ effects on homeowners, Larry Gross, Executive Director of the Coalition for Economic Survival, pointed out that homeowners are not the only injured party. “While there has been a lot of attention, rightfully so, on the plight of the nation’s homeowners facing the loss of their homes due to foreclosure, there is, in many cases, a forgotten and overlooked victim in this overall travesty confronting our country. I am referring to the nation’s renters,” Mr. Gross said. He asked that the subcommittee work on developing federal measures that would provide legal protection to renters living in properties that go into foreclosure. He specifically denounced banks that have received federal bailout money and still evict tenants based solely on the foreclosure status of the property.
Ruth Teague, Director of the Los Angeles Office of the Corporation for Supportive Housing, reiterated Mr. Gross’s emphasis on renter families in her testimony, and added that many of these foreclosed-upon renters end up homeless. She purported that the reason these renters are not receiving the help they need is because there are “inadequate financial resources and insufficient alignment of housing finance systems and services funding systems in Los Angeles.” Ms. Teague suggested that the federal government should increase funding for the National Housing Trust Fund and encourage state and local agencies to streamline their services.
California Attorney General Jerry Brown was among the witnesses to testify. In all, 19 witnesses were scheduled over four panels.
Link to testimony from the hearing at www.house.gov/apps/list/hearing/financialsvcs_dem/hr032809.shtml
