Loving Your Fellow as Yourself*

Ultra-Orthodox Jews walk past Muslim street vendors selling fresh vine leaves at the landmark Damascus Gate in east Jerusalem upon their return from overnight prayers and Torah reading at the Western Wall on the occasion of the Jewish harvest holiday (1) of Shavuot, early on 29 May 2009.

The annual religious festival, which began at sunset on 28 May; marks the day Moses gave the Torah to the Jews (from Mount Sinai) after their exodus from Egypt.

A Jewish boy looks at a Muslim man reading the daily Arabic newspaper 'Jerusalem' early on 29 May 2009 as ultra-Orthodox Jews passed through the landmark Damascus Gate in east Jerusalem upon their return from overnight prayers and Torah reading at the Western Wall on the occasion of the Jewish harvest holiday of Shavuot.

This comes at a time that only yesterday, US President Barack Obama in Washington DC; was again trying to destabilize the peaceful unity between Muslims and Jews, due to the US war that has been ongoing for over a hundred and nine years towards Israel and her people.

This also comes under the old US foreign policy ( known originally, as the "The Wind and the Lion" War Campaign; started by then US President Theodore Roosevelt ) towards Israel with Obama's continued enforcement of the unacceptable two-state solution (using in collaboration with the non-citizen Canaanites under PLO global terrorist, Interpol fugitive Mahmoud Abbas and his terrorist organization), which is detrimental to all the inhabitants of the country and the further necessity for desegregated housing towards every one's benefit .

Which Obama himself, is just another old hand of the same tired US oppressive story; which has no future (Judges 5:31).

* Leviticus 19:18

(1) Harvest Holiday, Chag ha-Katzir (Harvest Festival); also Yom ha-Bikurim (Day of First Fruits) usually characterized here as being the end of the barley harvest.

Federal audit raises serious questions about Housing Authority of New Orleans

Children race home from school in the Iberville development last December. Auditors recently found poor conditions at the Iberville and B.W. Cooper housing developments, including missing or loose railings, peeling paint, sewer leaks, and a serious rat infestation.

15 December 2008
by Katy Reckdahl

A report released Friday raised serious questions about the ability of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to safeguard the tenants it assists in New Orleans and ensure that they live in decent, sanitary conditions.

According to the audit by HUD's inspector general, the federally-run Housing Authority of New Orleans hasn't properly maintained its public-housing apartments or inspected its Section 8 rentals since Hurricane Katrina. The report also found the agency may have paid too much rent for many New Orleans apartments, and that it has created a Section 8 waiting list that's virtually unusable.

HANO had "placed a higher priority on housing displaced tenants instead of ensuring that units were qualified to house those tenants," the audit said.

That's true, HUD managers said in a written response: "Considering the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina and the dire need to house families, HUD stands by its decision to place a priority on housing families."

The agency's seven-page reply also detailed the systems and procedures that HUD and HANO would implement in response to the audit.

HANO has been controlled by a rotating pair of HUD executives since the federal government took the reins of the failed agency in 2002. Karen Cato-Turner, HUD's current receiver in New Orleans, has overseen day-to-day operations for more than a year; Diane Johnson came to New Orleans from HUD's New Jersey offices in May to act as the sole member of HUD's board.

Between April and September, HUD auditors examined 10 random apartments with tenants who receive rental assistance through HANO's Section 8 program, also known as the Housing Choice Voucher program. All 10 of the units fell short of HUD's quality standards because of loose floorboards, inoperable stoves, leaking water and sewage, mold, peeling paint in units housing young children, missing handrails and insufficient heating.

Two-thirds of public-housing apartments also failed the random inspections. Auditors found poor conditions at the Iberville and B.W. Cooper housing developments: missing or loose railings even on second-story balconies, peeling paint, long-standing sewer leaks, and a network of tunnels along Iberville buildings' foundations indicating "a serious rat infestation."

The head of HANO's property-management department told auditors that he was short-staffed and so hadn't routinely inspected public housing in the city since Hurricane Katrina. Similarly, the annual Section 8 inspections, federally mandated by HUD, were skipped for two years because of staff shortages, HANO said.

In its written response to auditors, HANO called the Iberville development "obsolete" and noted that the B.W. Cooper units are "slated to be demolished." This is despite the fact that the agency, when asked whether the city's public housing can accommodate all returning tenants, has typically described the Cooper and Iberville units as "repaired and ready to be occupied."

The audit also found that HANO didn't have a system in place to review the local rental market to ensure it wasn't paying above-market rates for its Section 8 apartments. And the audit found HANO had miscalculated rents for nearly half of the randomly chosen Section 8 and disaster-voucher tenants. After looking at a random selection of voucher holders, auditors discovered that during March 2008 HANO had paid $3,569 rent for three vacant units, and it had overpaid $1,200 in rental assistance for two disaster-voucher tenants, problems HANO blamed on understaffing.

The agency's Section 8 waiting list, which had 9,700 names before Hurricane Katrina, was missing key federally required data. Without that critical information, such as the date of application, the agency can't pick tenants fairly from the list, the audit found.

The report concluded that "HUD's receiver did not provide adequate management oversight" to ensure that HANO complied with federal law.

According to HUD's managers, Katrina took a toll on the agency's staff, but HUD is confident the agency will be returned to local control by fiscal year 2010 and that HUD is on its way to fully restoring the agency.

"HANO's programs are back on track," they wrote.

Miss. residents sue over Katrina housing funds

Damage to Long Beach, Mississippi following Hurricane Katrina, in 2005. (click to enlarge photograph)

10 December 2008
By SHELIA BYRD

JACKSON, Miss. – Housing advocates and low-income residents sued Wednesday to stop Mississippi from spending a half-billion federal dollars to expand a damaged port rather than replace homes destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

The Mississippi State Conference NAACP, Gulf Coast Fair Housing Center and residents sued the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in federal court in Washington, D.C.

Congressional leaders and others slammed HUD when it approved the state's plan to steer money to the Hurricane Katrina-damaged port despite a lingering housing crisis caused by the 2005 storm.

Gov. Haley Barbour maintains expanding the State Port at Gulfport, the third-busiest container port in the Gulf of Mexico, is key to the region's economic recovery.

The storm surge devastated Mississippi's coast, washing away much of the affordable housing. Three years later, about 6,000 families remain in temporary housing. Housing prices have more than doubled and insurance costs have increased, forcing some to relocate.

"They were just leaving us out to defend for ourselves," said Dorothy McClendon, 59, a disabled former state employee and plaintiff in the lawsuit who still lives in a trailer provided by the federal government after being denied assistance through the Katrina housing program. "Most people like myself are low-income, elderly people who own their homes, but don't have no other means."

In January, then-HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson said he had concerns about the plan to redirect the money but was obligated to OK the project because of congressional rules.

"Our basic claim is that HUD had a duty and responsibility to review the proposal and took a position we believe is inappropriate — that they did not have the discretion to reject it," said Joe Rich, an attorney helping the housing advocates with their lawsuit.

HUD spokesman Brian Sullivan declined comment because the agency had not received a copy of the lawsuit.

The agency that oversees federally funded Katrina recovery projects has said programs are under way to address the housing situation, including a $350 million plan to build thousands of homes for the region's working class.

Lee Youngblood, a spokesman for the agency, the Mississippi Development Authority, said the port project will proceed.

"It's somewhat surprising that they would file a lawsuit, but at the same time, we're moving forward," said Youngblood, who said the state has dedicated $700 million to low-income construction projects.

The lawsuit contends that so far Mississippi has devoted only 21 percent of $5.4 billion in federal hurricane recovery funding to projects that benefit low- to moderate-income households. HUD's Community Block Grant Program, which provided most of the money, requires 50 percent of all spending to benefit such households.

Several congressional Democrats tried unsuccessfully to stop Mississippi from diverting the funds to the port.

"Safe, affordable housing was touted as the hallmark of Mississippi's recovery efforts," said Charmel Gaulden, executive director of the Gulf Coast Fair Housing Center. "Now, our own government is seeking to leave the least among us out in the cold."

'The House of Peace'

Jewish settlers gather in front of the disputed house in the city of Hebron, on 23 November 2008.

In Palestine the one who has the absolute say, of who may live somewhere is myself and while I know that what is occurring towards this Jewish family is reprehensible to say the least.

It is by HRM Deborah of Palestine that this Jewish family may stay within this home as long as they wish and nothing else will be said or done to harm or cause them any duress towards this house or anything else; I do hope they live from this day foreword a very happy life in there home.

As to the Canaanite situation, the only thing they need to do is adhere to the eviction from the country as criminal illegal’s and nothing else will be acceptable; otherwise, finish packing bag's and leave Palestine forthwith.

Furthermore, as criminal illegal's, the Canaanite's have no legal right's as citizens within Palestine in any capacity.

Renters have trouble in New Orleans

A former resident points at the uninhabited and fenced housing project, in August 2006. Low-Income housing especially since Hurricane Katrina, in 2005; has became a major issue effecting New Orleans residents. While other types of decent affordable housing for residents is still virtually non-existent. The average housing cost since Katrina, has skyrocketed to beyond the income means, of most New Orleans residents, even some housing; in crime ridden neighborhoods. It is becoming a growing consensus, that the majority of New Orleans residents are tired of the Bush Administration scrap's or invisible presence and actually wish there dignity.

30 October 2008

NEW ORLEANS-Many New Orleans residents who lived in subsidized housing remain in limbo three years after Hurricane Katrina, officials say.

Some property-owners have opted out of subsidies from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development , the New Orleans Times-Picayune reported. HUD officials recently reported to U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., that six properties with a total of 395 units had been removed from the program.

Another 4,000 units still need repairs to make them habitable.

That leaves Keiajuana Tate with no home of her own. Before Katrina, Tate paid one-third of her income as rent for an apartment in a HUD-subsidized building. Now, she sleeps on relatives' couches, shuttling between two of her aunts.

Tate, who works part-time at the Superdome while she studies for a GED, does not have the income to pay market rate rent in New Orleans, where housing is more expensive and scarcer than it was before the hurricane. She told the newspaper she has looked at some low-rent apartments and found them "horrible," with problems like non-functioning plumbing and exposed wiring.

Bushonomics: Welcome at Your Own Risk

Another future home foreclosure?

For American’s Lack of Excitement:

US President George W. Bush’s (Yawn) Radio Address

Bushonomics: Teaching the Iraqi's How to Spend Money

24 October 2008

This one of those note worthy articles that is a bit interesting to the mind, apparently the Iraqi government has a little spending money and who would like to help them learn to spend, spend, spend; none other then the spend capital of the world, the United States.

After all the US has spent so much, there country is in full economic collapse, many of there people are subjected to abject poverty or just plain starving and to make matters worse the homeless population is becoming absolutely staggering between Hurricanes’ and home foreclosures, to let us not forget; the ever increasing high unemployment which continues to grow at leap and bounds.

So back to the beginning, who better to teach any one to spend; the United States.

Everybody need’s another country in full economic panic, let alone Iraq with foreign occupation and continuing genocide?

Bushonomics: America Tell Bush How You Feel

Lafayette Park, also known as Presidents Park
16th & Pennsylvania Ave., NW (across from the White House), Washington, DC.

Park Description: The seven-acre park provides a prominent arena for public protests, ranger programs and special events. It was named to honor the Marquis de Lafayette, the French hero of the American Revolution. An equestrian statue of Andrew Jackson is located in the center and in the four corners are statues of Revolutionary War heroes: France's General Marquis Gilbert de Lafayette and Major General Comte Jean de Rochambeau; Poland's General Thaddeus Kosciuszko; Prussia's Major General Baron Frederich Wilhelm von Steuben. Buildings surrounding the park include the White House, the Old Executive Office Building, the Department of the Treasury, Decatur House, Renwick Gallery, The White House Historical Association, Hay-Adams Hotel and The Department of Veterans Affairs.

Open: Every day
Admission: Free
Hours: 24 Hours a day
Park Website

American’s are you feeling depressed because of Bushonomics due to you having lost your home, job, health care, retirement, loss business or the ever increasing rise in the cost of living and you just can not seem to make it on a daily basis to just your feelings against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to the proposals of new ones against your tax dollar, lost loved ones, to these global human rights violations; I came up with an idea of how to let US President George W. Bush know, how you feel.

Go to Washington and set up a tent in the park across the street from the White House and every time Bush appears, tell him exactly what is in your heart about the ever increasing economic collapse; as others have done in the same park throughout American history before you, most notably the old Hooverville’s from the 1930’s Depression or the 1960’s Peace protests; you may even wish to wear that flower in your hair or preference to your religious affiliations, such as thoughs who wear the Islamic hijab, Kippah, for example.

By getting together, you will have a camaraderie with other’s like yourself; to achieving united, for a common stance to make yourself heard in Washington.

Stand up for Your Human Right’s, for You can make the difference!

Updates:

Bushonomics: Bush Run's from Economic Protestors

Bushonomics: Bush Gestures to Growing Numbers of Economic Protestors

Bushonomics: Home construction falls sharply in September

17 October 2008
By MARTIN CRUTSINGER

WASHINGTON – Construction of new homes plunged by a bigger-than-expected amount in September as builders slashed production to the slowest pace since early 1991, when the country was in a deep recession.

A barometer of future building also dropped to the weakest level in more than 25 years.

The building industry is on pace to construct the fewest new homes and apartments this year since the end of World War II.

The Commerce Department reported Friday that construction of new homes and apartments dropped by 6.3 percent last month, a much bigger decline than the 1.6 percent decrease that had been expected. It pushed total production to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 817,000 units. That's the slowest pace since January 1991, when the U.S. was in a recession and going through a similar painful housing correction.

The declines last month reflected weakness in many parts of the country. It was led by a 20.9 percent drop in the Northeast, where construction of single-family units fell to the lowest level on record.

Construction slipped by 16.8 percent in the West with single-family building hitting a record low there, too. The Midwest saw a gain of 5.6 percent, although that reflected strength in apartment construction as single-family building also hit a record low in that region. Construction activity in the South was up a slight 0.5 percent.

Applications for building permits, considered a good sign for future activity, also fell sharply in September, dropping by 8.3 percent to an annual rate of 786,000 units, the weakest level since November 1981.

The housing industry, which enjoyed a five-year boom, is suffering its worst downturn in decades.

The weakness in housing, where prices have been falling sharply in many parts of the country, has triggered severe economic problems. The government has been forced to rush through a $700 billion rescue package for banks which have been hit with billions of dollars in losses from soaring defaults on mortgages. Which the rescue package proved to be in US disfavor and has plugged into bigger debt, without a tentative future of Americans; as the economy collapses more by the day with each new US President George W. Bush idea.

Banks, worried about their cash reserves and the health of other banks and businesses, have tightened lending, causing credit markets around the world to freeze, stock markets to tumble and anxiety about a global recession to rise.

Builder sentiment dropped to a record low in October, according to the latest survey from the National Association of Home Builders which said builder confidence had been shaken by the recent financial market troubles. Builders have been facing tighter lending standards as they try to get financing for new projects.

The Diminishing Refugee Camp’s

A Palestinian man carries a sack of food distributed from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in the Rafah refugee camp, on October 16, 2008.

Camps like Rafah are diminishing from Palestine’s landscape in an ever increasing scale, as employment and housing for example; are much improved and Palestine continues to grow.

Palestinian children helping to pack food aid boxes for distribution.

New Orleans not Third World

The New Orleans Housing Protest in 2007.

by HRM Deborah

It is amazing how the media propaganda is going on about some of the refugee style housing projects in New Orleans since Katrina in 2005, which are more in toon to what some may find as a type of refugee housing in some third world countries and what is worse is meant to be permanent resident housing in New Orleans.

What is even worse and to no disrespect to the black community in any manner, but some of the homes looks like a modern version of the old Southern slave quarters; which I find appalling to say the least.

The big splash of the Brad Pitt housing project which many residents in New Orleans thought was a puff of smoke in the wind, has been suggested to be just another project when it did get somewhat of the ground; to be just another fabricated style home as mentioned before.

As to some people being overjoyed which I find in question, it may be that the huge homeless refugee population in the streets and those in FEMA trailers getting ill from a type of poising or the low income population may think otherwise; due to the fact what was actually right has never been done.

New Orleans Restaurants Fare Well In Economic Crisis

Tourism Officials Say Tours, Conferences Help Area

11 October 2008

NEW ORLEANS-It seems every industry is keeping a close eye on what's happening with the economy.

The service industry is the New Orleans area's bread and butter, so WDSU NewsChannel 6 wanted to find out how restaurants are faring.

Industry experts said growth in the service industry was basically flat in 2007. That's why now more than ever local restaurants have to pinch pennies to earn every customer.

Phil Degruy owns Phil's Grill in Metairie and Mandeville.

With gas prices already eating many restaurants profits, he said the failing economy making matters worse.

"Here in Metairie, it's great," Degruy said. "Mandeville is a little slow taking off, and I think that has to do with the economy right now."

Even so, the Louisiana Restaurant Association said New Orleans restaurants are doing better than national ones.

"Here in New Orleans, eating out is such a strong part of the culture that we really will give up other things before we give up going out to eat with our friends or family," resident Wendy Waren said.

As a precaution, many restaurants are instituting cost-saving strategies.

"They're ordering less frequently, thinking more long-term about perishable and non perishable items they will need and reducing food spoilage and waste in the kitchen," Waren said.

Restaurants are also coming up with creative marketing campaigns.

Phil's Grill has a rewards card.

"Royalty Rewards is like a frequent flier deal," Degruy said. "Every time you eat, you earn points and I buy you burgers."

Degruy hasn't raised his prices yet. In this economy, he said he's banking on burgers.

"I think the fine dining establishments will suffer more as disposable income becomes less," he said. "People are still going to eat out and people are still going to eat burgers."

Tourism officials said one of the things that's helping the New Orleans area are tours and some large conferences scheduled earlier this year for fall.

In Other News:
Homeowners Question Increased Assessments (Video)

Three years later, 6,500 subsidized New Orleans apartments fester

New Home Sales Tumbled Slowest Pace in 17 Years

A condominium is put up for sale in San Francisco, California; on 14 August 2008.

New home sales tumbled in August to the slowest pace in 17 years, while the average sales price fell by the largest amount on record.

The Commerce Department said Thursday that new homes sales fell by 11.5 percent in August to a seasonally adjusted annual sales rate of 460,000 units, the slowest sales pace since January 1991.

It was a much bigger sales decline than the small 1 percent drop that economists had been expecting. The average price of a new home sold in August dropped by a record amount of 11.8 percent to $263,900, compared to the July average of $299,100. The median price was also down, falling 5.5 percent to $221,900.

The big drop in new home sales followed news Wednesday that sales of existing homes were down 2.2 percent in August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.91 million units. Both segments of the market remain under pressure from the steepest housing downturn in decades.

That housing slump has contributed to a record surge in mortgage defaults, leading to billions of dollars in losses by financial firms and spawning a severe credit crisis in what some are calling a deeping recession, while others say it is becoming a bigger economic crisis then the 1930’s Great Depression.

The report on new home sales showed that business was off in every region of the country except the Midwest, which posted a 7.2 percent increase. Sales plunged by 36.1 percent in the West and were down 31.9 percent in the Northeast. Sales fell a more modest 2.1 percent in the South.

Cave Dwellers to Receive New Homes

Abed Raba, a Palestinian farmer who lives in a cave on the outskirts of Jerusalem lights a cigarette, on 18 August 2008.

Raba has lived in this cave since 1985 after his father, who lived there before the establishment of the alleged state of Israel in 1948, died.

Today, the Jewish authorities are set to move Raba from the cave, to put him in a nice home; as new equality homes are being built in the area.

U.S.: Home foreclosure filings up 55 percent in July

Slump in housing forcing yet more borrowers to default on mortgages

A ‘foreclosure’ sign is posted in front of a townhouse in Herndon, Va. U.S. foreclosure activity in July rose 55 percent from a year earlier, according to a report.

14 August 2008

NEW YORK - U.S. foreclosure activity in July rose 55 percent from a year earlier as a slump in once-sizzling housing markets forced yet more borrowers to default on their mortgages, according to a monthly report.

Foreclosure filings — default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions — rose 8 percent from June and 55 percent from July 2007 to 272,171, according to RealtyTrac, which records property in various stages of foreclosure.

That means one in every 464 U.S. households received a foreclosure filing in July, the firm said. Bank repossessions (REOs) rose 184 percent year-over-year. Default notices were up 53 percent, and auction notices rose 11 percent.

“The sharp rise in REOs, combined with slow sales, has resulted in a bloated inventory of bank-owned properties for sale,” James Saccacio, chief executive of Irvine, California-based RealtyTrac, said in a statement.

RealtyTrac now has more than 750,000 properties in its active REO database, or about 17 percent of the inventory of existing homes for sale reported in June by the National Association of Realtors, RealtyTrac said.

Among 230 metro areas tracked, Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Florida, registered the highest foreclosure rate. One in every 64 households there received a foreclosure filing last month, more than seven times the national average.

By state, Nevada led the country with its foreclosure rate in July, as one in every 106 households received a foreclosure filing. Foreclosure activity in Nevada rose 15 percent from the previous month and 97 percent from July 2007, RealtyTrac said.

REOs in Nevada jumped 384 percent from a year ago, default notices surged 59 percent and auction notices rose 31 percent.

In California, one in every 182 properties received a foreclosure filing. Florida was third, with one in every 186, while Arizona’s rate was one in every 195 properties.

Other states with foreclosure rates among the top 10 were Ohio, Georgia, Michigan, Colorado, Utah and Virginia.

California was first by number of foreclosures with 72,285 in July, up 5 percent from June and 85 percent on a year ago. REOs in California rose 427 percent from a year ago, while auction notices rose 67 percent and default notices were up 34 percent. But default notices declined 4 percent from June.

Foreclosures in Florida rose 14 percent from June and 139 percent from a year earlier to claim the second highest number of properties, at 45,884. REOs rose 678 percent, auction notices were up 180 percent, and default notices doubled.

Ohio was third with 13,457 filings, up 2 percent from June and 1 percent from July 2007. Texas, Georgia, Nevada, Illinois and New York also were in the top 10 for foreclosure filings.

Further Reading:

Overbuilt market creating modern ghost towns

The 10 Most Controversial Provisions of the Housing Bill

27 July 2008

by Donny Shaw

Congress has officially cleaned its hands of the landmark American Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act and sent it to President Bush for his signature. The bill is about 694 pages long, but you don’t need to read any of it to find out about the parts you’ll probably hate the most. Here are my picks for the bill’s ten most controversial and suspect provisions:

1. Fannie and Freddie Bailout – The bill gives broad new authority to the Treasury Department to spend a limitless amount of taxpayer money in order to safeguard government-sponsored enterprises Fanie Mae and Freddie Mac. The bailout’s Estimated to cost $25 billion in over the next two years, but there’s no way to predict the future and estimates on this are really just wild guesses. Peter Orszag, Congressional Budget Office director, admits the actual cost is uncertain and could be as much as $100 billion.

2. Mortgage Bailout – The Federal Housing Administration will have new authority to buy up to $300 billion in at-risk mortgages and refinance them at more affordable, fixed rate mortgages. The potential problem here is that homeowners that use the program could then default on their new government-backed mortgages, which would put taxpayers on the hook. The Congressional Budget Office predicts the total cost to the government for this program to be about $2.7 billion, but again, this is a wild guess and it could easily end up costing a lot more.

3. Fannie and Freddie Lobbying – Okay, this isn’t something in the bill; it’s something that isnt’t in it, but probably should be. Even though Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be taking in huge amounts of taxpayer money, they won’t be banned from lobbying and other political activities. In a press release, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) said, “Currently, the Department of Treasury cannot retain high-powered lobbyists or make political contributions to candidates, and the same rules should apply to Fannie and Freddie. If we plan to use taxpayer dollars to buy shares of these troubled companies, they should be treated like other federal entities. Any legislation exposing taxpayers to this risk should include a serious debate on long-term reforms, and a ban on lobbying must be included.”

4. Federal Fingerprint Database – Besides dishing out the bucks, the bill contains a provision that will bring in private information about citizens. The bill establishes a national registry of personal data, including fingerprints, on everybody deemed to be a “loan originators.” According to CNet, a loan originator is anyone who “accepts a residential mortgage application, negotiates terms on a mortgage, advises on loan terms, prepares loan packages, or collects information on behalf of the consumer. Real estate agents are covered if they get “compensation” of any sort (including kickbacks) from loan originators.” The stated reason for the new database is to verify the credentials of brokers and lenders, but there are no limits on how the government can use the information.

5. Neighborhood Stabilization – This is the part of the bill that prompted President Bush’s initial veto threat. The bill sets aside $3.92 billion to be used by HUD’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program to buy up and rehab foreclosed homes. The money will be distributed throughout the states to be used according to local needs. In a statement of administration policy, the White House wrote, “The Administration believes the principal beneficiaries of this type of plan would be private lenders – who are now the owners of the vacant or foreclosed properties — instead of struggling homeowners who are working hard to stay in their homes,”

6. Credit Card Tracking – Here’s another provision that will collect a huge amount of private information for the government. Deep inside the bill is a program requiring banks to to track, aggregate, and report information on all credit and debit card transactions to the IRS. FreedomWorks Chairman Dick Armey had this to say about it: “This is a provision with astonishing reach, and it was slipped into the bill just this week. Not only does it affect nearly every credit card transaction in America, such as Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express, but the bill specifically targets payment systems like eBay’s PayPal, Amazon, and Google Checkout that are used by many small online businesses. The privacy implications for America’s small businesses are breathtaking.”

7. Section 8 – This one’s not really controversial, but maybe just because we don’t know what’s going on with it. Randomly, one section of the bill extends Section 8 federal housing subsidies for “the property known as The Heritage Apartments” in Malden, Massachusetts. Someone should ask Edward Markey (D-MA), Malden’s congressman, about what strings he had to pull to get this one in there.

8. Tax Cut for Chrylser – Another weird one. According to the New York Times, there is a provision in the bill “tailored narrowly for Chrysler to ensure that it can benefit from a corporate tax incentive even though the company is now structured as a partnership not a corporation. The bill does not name Chrysler but rather describes an unnamed automobile manufacturer “that will produce in excess of 675,000 automobiles” from Jan. 1 to June 30, 2008.”

9. Raising the Debt Ceiling – Going right to the central question of how much the government is willing to spend on bailing out the mortgage industry is a provision to increase the national debt ceiling by $800 billion. As Jim Quinn wrote on Nolan Chart, “this is like giving a spendaholic an increase on their Amex credit line. Give Congress the ability to spend $10.8 trillion and they will.”

10. Foreclosure Counseling – It’s “only” $150 million, but it’s for exactly the kind of thing Conservatives hate. The money will be distributed by the public/private Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation to program to organizations throughout the country to provide counseling to struggling homeowners.

For more general information about the housing bill, see the Associated Press’ overview and all the news and blog coverage we’re aggregating at OpenCongress.

The Collapsing American Housing Market

Gone Due to Foreclosures

In some cases, it has been reported, whole neighborhoods look like this; across the country.

Jewish Government expected to approve construction of new Arab city

Jewish Interior minister wants new Arab town to be built in Galilee in bid to resolve housing crisis

18 July 2008

by Roni Sofer

The government is expected to approve Sunday the establishment of a new Arab city in the Galilee region, in a bid to resolve the housing crisis faced young Arab couples in northern part of the Jewish sector.

The new city's establishment has been promoted by Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit. In a recent visit to Arab-Jewish town Umm al-Fahm, Sheetrit said: "We are aiming for a modern city where every young couple would be able to buy a house and live there just like in any other modern city in the world."

The new city's establishment has been promoted by Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit. In a recent visit to Arab-Jewish town Umm al-Fahm, Sheetrit said: "We are aiming for a modern city where every young couple would be able to buy a house and live there just like in any other modern city in the world."

The government is expected to task an inter-ministerial team with formulating a plan for examining the issue. The government intends to accept the team's recommendations by the end of the year.

Ministers have been told that "demographic and social changes to the Arab population and the need to integrate it into Jewish economy and society require us to establish a new urban area for this population."

The site of the new city has not yet been decided and officials are said to be looking into several options. The Interior Ministry is expected to finance the establishment of the city. The prime minister and the housing and construction minister back the proposal, which will be brought up for a vote Sunday. The environmental affairs minister does not object to the plan, but the finance minister's stance is unclear at this time.

A look at apartment rents in western United States

17 July 2008

A look at average rent in major Western markets as of June 30 and the percent change from the previous year:

San Jose, Calif.: $1,689, 1.7 percent

Los Angeles/Orange counties: $1,664., 0.8 percent

San Francisco/Oakland: $1,618, 1.4 percent

Ventura County, Calif.: $1,548, -0.3 percent

San Diego: $1,393, 1.1 percent

San Bernardino/Riverside counties: $1,162, -0.3 percent

Solano County, Calif.: $1,160, 0.5 percent

Seattle: $1,115, 2.3 percent

Sacramento, Calif.: $971, 0.5 percent

Las Vegas: $866, 0.0 percent

Denver: $880, 0.5 percent

Reno, Nev.: $865, 0.3 percent

Portland: $860, 1.1 percent

Phoenix: $812, -0.6 percent

Salt Lake City: $816, 1.6 percent

Fresno, Calif.: $806, 0.5 percent

Boise, Idaho: $744, 0.5 percent

Albuquerque, N.M.: $727, 0.8 percent

Tucson, Ariz.: $661, -0.1 percent

Source: RealFacts Inc.

Foreclosure filings surged 53 percent in June

Nevada, California, Arizona, Florida and Michigan still leading nation

10 July 2008

The number of homeowners stung by the rout in the U.S. housing market jumped last month as foreclosure filings grew by more than 50 percent compared with June a year ago, according to data released Thursday.

Nationwide, 252,363 homes received at least one foreclosure-related notice in June, up 53 percent from the same month last year, but down 3 percent from May, RealtyTrac Inc. said. One in every 501 U.S. households received a foreclosure filing last month.

Foreclosure filings increased from a year earlier in all but 11 states. Nevada, California, Arizona, Florida and Michigan continued to have the highest foreclosure rates.

Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac monitors default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions. More than 71,000 properties were repossessed by lenders nationwide in June, the company said.

While foreclosures continue to rise nationwide, efforts in some states to give borrowers more time before losing their homes appear to be working.

In Maryland, where a new law has increased the time to finalize a foreclosure to 150 days from just 15, foreclosure filings dropped by almost 18 percent from last year’s levels. In Massachusetts, which last year passed a similar law, filings dropped almost 3 percent.

Still, the combination of weak housing sales, falling home values, tighter mortgage lending criteria and a slowing U.S. economy has left financially strapped homeowners with few options to avoid foreclosure. Many can’t find buyers or owe more than their home is worth and can’t refinance into an affordable loan.

Economists project 2.5 million homes nationwide will enter the foreclosure process this year, up from about 1.5 million in 2007.

Analysts say the mortgage industry’s effort to assist troubled borrowers is being overwhelmed by the magnitude of the foreclosure crisis, and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said earlier this week that many foreclosures are “not preventable,” citing borrowers who “took out mortgages they can’t possibly afford and they will lose their homes.”

Lawmakers and government officials have been struggling to come up with a response to soften the blow for the U.S. economy. Congress is working on legislation that would permit the Federal Housing Administration to provide new, cheaper mortgages to distressed homeowners who otherwise would have difficulty refinancing into more secure government-insured loans. Lenders would have to be willing to take a substantial loss by reducing the amount owed on the loan.

The Bush administration announced Tuesday that it would be ready on Monday to implement an FHA expansion that lets borrowers who’ve fallen behind on their home payments — because of mortgage rate resets or other economic hardships — get more affordable loans.

In the RealtyTrac report, metropolitan areas in California and Florida accounted for nine of the top 10 areas with the highest rate of foreclosure for the third-straight month. That list was led by three California cities: Stockton, Merced and Modesto. The Cape Coral-Fort Myers area in Florida was fourth.

In Nevada, one in every 122 households received a foreclosure-related notice last month, more than four times the national rate.

In today’s market, about 50 to 60 percent of borrowers nationally who receive foreclosure filings are now likely to lose their homes, said Rick Sharga, RealtyTrac’s vice president of marketing, compared with a typical rate of about 40 percent.

“For more and more homeowners who are getting into foreclosure,” Sharga said, “there is a much higher likelihood that they are ultimately going to lose the properties to the bank.”

Further Reading:

U.S. Foreclosure Market Data by State - June 2008