Solving the Foreclosure Crisis in Low-Income Neighborhoods Essay

With Massachusetts State spending on affordable housing and open space at a historic low, when considered as a percentage of the total budget, the production of dwelling units and the conservation of land have become the responsibility of local government, but cities and towns do not build housing, except in rare circumstances. As well they do not routinely buy expensive tracts of open land,

Eminent domain disproportionately affects racial and ethnic minorities, the elderly, and the economically disadvantaged. For example, in San Jose, California, 95 percent of the properties targeted for redevelopment are owned by minorities, even though only 30 percent of businesses are owned by minorities. These groups are disproportionately affected because they are easy political and economic targets. Condemnations in minority or elderly neighborhoods are often easier because they are less likely or able to resist. Areas with low property values are targeted because they cost less and the State gains financially when they replace areas with low property values with higher values. / / When an area is taken for "economic development," the

Over the last couple of decades, Buffalo has found itself in a grave housing crisis. The urban population is shrinking and the population in poverty is growing, leaving houses abandoned and left to fall apart. Although many cities in the Rust Belt are facing similar problems, about 15.7% of Buffalo housing was left vacant as of 2010, which places Buffalo as ninth in the nation for vacancy rate. As the masses abandon their homes, run down neighborhoods see an increase in crime and drug use, and a rapid decrease in property value (Armstrong et al. 1-2). Many see this deterioration, however, as an opportunity to renovate impoverished neighborhoods and make them more attractive to the upper and middle class. This process, known as gentrification, should increase the overall well being of residents by making neighborhoods safer,

When evaluating urban renewal projects, Professor Steven Cord found that “By far most of the housing destroyed was low cost housing,” (184). The statistics in Kelo also showed that 56 percent of nonwhites and 38 percent of whites displaced by urban renewal were qualified to receive public housing due to their low incomes. Further, the destruction of housing forces individuals to seek relocation housing. Relocation housing is not guaranteed to be readily available or to be superior to the housing destroyed (Cord 185). Eminent domain has broken up neighborhoods and forced out longtime residents (Cord 184).

The process through which gentrification is carried out is very intricately planned. Drugs, prostitution, and violence usually play the most important role in the process of gentrification. When neighborhoods are infested by crime of any sort, the first thing that happens is the immediate decline in property value in areas like Guilford and Park Heights (“The Mortgage Bubble Invades Baltimore”). The home owning taxpayers in Baltimore City are usually blue collar workers who are just trying to make ends meet, and because of their income restrictions many of these citizens are forced to live in areas of high crime. Generally people only live in these areas if they have to, so when a developer comes along and offers to buy citizens homes at a price that the citizens at the time considers to be extremely profitable in their neighborhood, they usually take the money and run without carefully considering that the offer that they have accepted is much less profitable than what the developers have planned (“City’s East side Renaissance Spreads”). We

In Baltimore, the abandoned houses allowed investors to buy the houses and turn them into luxury condominiums and houses. In turn, this encourages other companies to continue to develop condominiums and houses and abandon the development of low-income housing. This cycle is called gentrification, but it is disguised as restoration to the city

Opening a new business, remodeling a house, and buying land could all be exciting opportunities; it creates a chance for an owner to make something their own. It takes time and dedication, trial and error, money and divergent thinking, but in the end of all the sacrifice and dedication, that land, or house becomes everything the owner could have ever wanted and more, because it is their dream and they created it. However, dreams can falter, that owner with the new business believes full heartedly in having a future and a successful business, but over time things change and unfortunately that business that was once strong, now becomes repossessed. That new home has been foreclosed, and that pure land, rich in soil is now sold to a high-end

In the past, the government has organized projects to remove slum neighborhoods through emanate domain that have been labeled as a blight to the city and replace them with facilities that are aimed at attracting middle and upper class individuals to move back to the city (Gans, 1965). The main benefit to the low-income residents in these condemned areas was that they were being relocated out of these areas and the neighborhood would be revitalized. Unfortunately, this benefit was rarely experienced by residents of condemned neighborhoods.

This can sometimes cause a domino effect to the neighborhood and cause a halt in real estate within the neighborhood. Blighted properties attract crime and become difficult to maneuver and rehab due to ownership and property issues. Urban blight has taken cities like Detroit by storm, making it one of the most blighted cities in the United States. Some places in Detroit have entire neighborhoods that are abandoned and deemed inhabitable. In spite of the fact, the term blight is more relevant today, scholars note that it has been an ongoing and complex issue throughout history especially within the academic literature (Schilling). Scholars from a different line of work have documented blight’s evolution from the early 1900’s, where slums and disease took place all around the United States, most of the time targeting minority communities throughout American cities (Schilling). Blight can be noted in different parts of history, and all over the world, usually different monumental events happen that leads to a snowball effect and result into blighted properties. Throughout this paper, urban blight will be discussed in a sequence of events, this paper will attempt to correlate major events in American history to blight and discuss the impact and effect it had on local government at that

More whites can own a home compared to people from other minorities. “Statistics indicate that 73% of whites own homes compared to 45% African Americans” (McKernan and Ratcliffe, 2). Whites are more likely to receive prime mortgages compared to black. Home ownership is a large determinant of wealth. The government provides subsidies for home ownership, but such subsidies only benefit the rich because they are based on income. The rich prosper from mortgage interest deduction benefits. There is a clear disparity and a wide gap in home values between white and black neighborhoods. Unfortunately, this is mostly caused by policy. The National Housing Act of 1934 marked the black neighborhoods as credit risks. Such neighborhoods have high poverty rates and declining infrastructure. People have maintained this perception since that time. “It would be possible to reduce the wealth gap by offering tax credits to low-income households and removal of other barriers that prevent home ownership” (McKernan and Ratcliffe, 2). At the same time, it is important to make the mortgage lending and relief programs transparent and fair. Institutionalized discrimination and negative stereotypes should be obsolete in the pursuit of

Brooklyn, NY – December 30, 2009 Foreclosures continue to rise drastically across the United States due to the recession, and have effected, and continue to affect thousands of families and individuals every day. One aspect we must take into consideration is that most people are not informed of what foreclosure means, or the process, even those who are homeowners. I believe that one step to preventing foreclosure is to educate first-time homebuyers. In addition, first-time homebuyer programs should not only assist potential buyers with financially preparing them to buy a home, but to keep the home once

For the past fifty years the shift from meeting the housing needs of the poor through government projects-based housing to a more individual approach, has been slowly implemented. Housing vouchers now enable underprivileged populations to move from high-poverty, segregated neighborhoods to more un-segregated, low-poverty neighborhoods. Low-poverty neighborhoods have less crime, better opportunities for employment, and more diverse schooling options. Some housing advocates however, contend that housing assistance is unnecessary and is an income subsidy that should be combined with other social safety nets (Clark, W. 2008).

The United States economy has been in trouble for the past couple of years. The foreclosure crisis is a condition that began due to the inability of homeowners to pay their mortgages. Foreclosure is a legal proceeding whereby a lender obtains a legal termination of a debtor’s right to redemption. The foreclosure rates have been increasing for a considerable period and certain steps have been put into place to solve the problem. While the government, financial institutions and the general public are highly aware of the crisis, the steps taken to combat the problem are still not sufficient as the foreclosure rates are still increasing.

Gentrification would have the potential to be good if the people who have been long-time residences got to live in and enjoy the new community. Unfortunately, the opposite often takes place with gentrification. Current residents often get evicted and displaced due to rising rent and new demands by the people coming in. The people getting displaced are often minorities who get evicted from their own neighborhoods before being able to experience the changes for themselves. Before people are forced to leave, the state gives them a voucher. A voucher is a discount the state gives you to leave and go to another town. With this voucher you can only go to certain places. You can only go where the voucher tells you to go. For example, if you currently live in South Central, Los Angeles and the voucher says you can move to Watts, then can

Seeing other people reactions towards foreclosure helps me to develop a meaningful value of life and how to appreciate it everyday of my life. As I see what is going on around me I came up with three plans that can be executed to help all people who are dealing with foreclosure issues. This can become a major factor for the economy. One is called Own A Home , Financially Fit, and Bills To Kill. These are guaranteed plans that will help any individual that feels that they are not financially secured to become a homeowner. The Own A Home program is designed for aspiring homeowner in which they