Paid Sick Leave, More Overtime Proposed For Mpls. Workers
The proposal would allow workers to know their schedules ahead of time and earn overtime if they work more than eight hours a day. It would affect all Minneapolis businesses with more than one...
The proposal would allow workers to know their schedules ahead of time and earn overtime if they work more than eight hours a day. It would affect all Minneapolis businesses with more than one employee.
The Minneapolis restaurant scene is one of flavor, variety and growth. It’s just a slice of the local business scene but one councilmember said that scenery needs some change.
“We’re hearing about gaps in the workplace that are disproportionately affecting low-wage workers, women and people of color,” councilmember Elizabeth Gladden said.
So she and a list of other city workers have drafted a plan. It would mean workers get their schedule a month out, they get paid sick leave and any shift over eight hours would mean overtime.
Christina Cortez has worked at McDonald’s for nine years. She said knowing her schedule 28 days out would be huge.
“Then I wouldn’t have to worry, Am I going to schedule my appointment or my baby’s appointment on the day I’m actually supposed to be at work?” she said.
A partner at Hell’s Kitchen said his employees don’t seem to need a month’s notice.
“[We’ve talked] to our servers about, What do you want?” Pat Forciea said. “Everybody kind of agreed on two weeks.”
Joe Elliot, father to 4-year-old Jamir said the sick leave is what excites him. He said he didn’t get any when he broke his hand,
“I had to debate [whether] to stay home and relax, like the doctor said, or lose my job,” Elliot said.
But change comes at a cost.
“Maybe businesses feel it’s just too expensive to do business in Minneapolis, so I’m instead going to open up my restaurant in Edina or I’m going to open it up in Bloomington,” he said.
But he said if it all passes, he’ll see it through.
“We want to do what’s right for the people who work here and their families,” he said.
A March report from the Department of Health found that the lack of paid sick leave in Minnesota workplaces has contributed to contagious disease outbreaks and actually added to employers’ health care expenses.
WCCO also spoke with a labor attorney. He said the paid sick leave and overtime seem like reasonable changes, but scheduling 28 days out is a bit extreme. He said 14 days out would be more practical.
The council hopes to vote on an ordinance by the end of the year.
Source: CBS Minnesota
Los estados deben ser líderes en la protección de los inmigrantes
Los estados deben ser líderes en la protección de los inmigrantes
Si bien ciertos candidatos a la presidencia han ocupado los titulares con sus indignantes propuestas de deportar a los inmigrantes indocumentados, el hecho es que los inmigrantes se van a quedar y...
Si bien ciertos candidatos a la presidencia han ocupado los titulares con sus indignantes propuestas de deportar a los inmigrantes indocumentados, el hecho es que los inmigrantes se van a quedar y hacer de Estados Unidos un lugar más próspero.
Dada esa realidad –y la total de inacción a nivel federal respecto a una reforma de inmigración– los estados han comenzado poco a poco a adoptar medidas para tratar a los inmigrantes con dignidad y darles la oportunidad de una vida mejor.
Un estudio reciente de la Fundación RAND concluyó que el número de normas a nivel estatal relativas a la inmigración aumentó diez veces del año 2005 al 2013, y durante el 2015, 46 estados aprobaron 391 leyes relacionadas con inmigración.
Muchas de las leyes alientan a los inmigrantes a salir de la clandestinidad. Por ejemplo, doce estados han adoptado medidas para permitir que los inmigrantes indocumentados obtengan licencia de conducir y 20 estados permiten que los inmigrantes se matriculen como residentes en universidades e instituciones de enseñanza superior del gobierno. Por otro lado, solo tres estados prohíben explícitamente que los inmigrantes indocumentados se inscriban en instituciones de educación superior.
Nueva York ha sido un líder en este frente. En el año 2015, la ciudad de Nueva York se convirtió en la ciudad más grande del país en inaugurar una tarjeta de identidad municipal. Desde entonces, la política ha sido un gran éxito, pues cientos de miles se han inscrito, muchos de ellos inmigrantes que anteriormente no podían abrir una cuenta de banco o siquiera obtener una tarjeta de biblioteca. Ahora se ha reanudado e intensificado la campaña a favor de las licencias de conducir en el estado.
Sin embargo, mientras Nueva York y otros estados avanzan valientemente, algunos estados están dando un paso atrás. Además de políticas a favor de los inmigrantes, el estudio de RAND también reveló que algunos estados están tomando medidas para hacer la vida de los inmigrantes más difícil y peligrosa al redoblar la actividad policial y privar a los inmigrantes de beneficios esenciales.
En esta lista, Arizona es uno de los ejemplos más atroces. A pesar de que se ha criticado mucho al estado por la ley antiinmigrantes del 2010, en meses recientes los legisladores estatales han tomado medidas para hacer que Arizona sea incluso más hostil con sus inmigrantes. La legislatura está promoviendo una serie de medidas legislativas que, entre otras cosas, prohibirían que las ciudades sirvan de santuario y dificultarían solicitar identificación municipal.
No es la única manera en que los legisladores estatales están tratando de restarles poder a las ciudades de Arizona, que tradicionalmente han acogido más a los inmigrantes. Los legisladores también están a punto de aprobar una medida que penaliza a las ciudades por adoptar un salario mínimo más alto o licencias por enfermedad, negándoles fondos para servicios como los departamentos de policía y bomberos.
En efecto, las medidas permitirían que Arizona imponga prácticamente un golpe de estado y haga caso omiso de los deseos de sus propios ciudadanos. No es de sorprender, pues se trata de un estado donde se permitió que fuera necesario hacer fila durante horas en los recintos para las elecciones primarias de los republicanos el mes pasado, negándoles a muchos el fundamental derecho al voto.
Y para que no pensemos que el problema se limita al otro extremo del país, hay señales de peligro aquí mismo. Varios senadores estatales están tratando de prohibir disimuladamente las ciudades santuario en Nueva York al esconder una nueva disposición en el presupuesto estatal, lo que aumenta la probabilidad de que pase desapercibida.
Ya no se pueden tolerar medidas que merman la democracia y perjudican a los inmigrantes. Los estados como Arizona han ayudado a marcar la pauta para las virulentas elecciones contra los inmigrantes de este año. Antes de que se haga incluso más daño, debemos hacer todo lo posible para poner un alto a las medidas contra los inmigrantes.
By Shena Elrington
Source
No sanctuary cities in Florida? That’s not as settled as Andrew Gillum claims
No sanctuary cities in Florida? That’s not as settled as Andrew Gillum claims
It’s difficult to speak in absolutes when discussing sanctuary cities, because as Gillum said, there is no formal definition. The term can be used to make either negative or positive arguments...
It’s difficult to speak in absolutes when discussing sanctuary cities, because as Gillum said, there is no formal definition. The term can be used to make either negative or positive arguments about local policies, said Francesca Menes, Florida state coordinator for Local Progress, a national network of local elected officials working on social issues, including immigration protection.
Read the full article here.
Activists Deliver Climate Plan for Just Transition to EPA Offices Nationwide
On January 19, activists at each of the Environmental Protection Agency's 10 regional offices issued their own corrective on the Obama administration's Clean Power Plan. Days before the end of the...
On January 19, activists at each of the Environmental Protection Agency's 10 regional offices issued their own corrective on the Obama administration's Clean Power Plan. Days before the end of the federal comment period, the Climate Justice Alliance's Our Power Campaign - comprised of 41 climate and environmental justice organizations - presented its Our Power Plan, which identifies "clear and specific strategies for implementing the Clean Power Plan, or CPP, in a way that will truly benefit our families' health and our country's economy."
Introduced last summer, the CPP looks to bring down power plants' carbon emissions by 32 percent from 2005 levels within 15 years. The plan was made possible by Massachusetts vs. EPA, a 2007 Supreme Court ruling which mandates that the agency regulate greenhouse gases as it has other toxins and pollutants under the Clean Air Act of 1963. Under the CPP, states are each required to draft their own implementation plans by September of this year, or by 2018 if granted an extension. If they fail to do so, state governments will be placed by default into an interstate carbon trading, or "Cap and Trade," system to bring down emissions.
Michael Leon Guerrero, the Climate Justice Alliance's interim coordinator, was in Paris for the most recent round of UN climate talks as part of the It Takes Roots Delegation, which brought together over 100 organizers from North American communities on the frontlines of both climate change and fossil fuel extraction. He sees the Our Power Plan as a logical next step for the group coming out of COP21, especially as the onus for implementing and improving the Paris agreement now falls to individual nations.
"Fundamentally," he said, "we need to transform our economy and rebuild our communities. We can't address the climate crisis in a cave without addressing issues of equity."
The Our Power Plan, or OPP, is intended as a blueprint for governments and EPA administrators to address the needs of frontline communities as they draft their state-level plans over the next several months. (People living within three miles of a coal plant have incomes averaging 15 percent lower than average, and are eight percent more likely to be communities of color.) Included in the OPP are calls to bolster what CJA sees as the CPP's more promising aspects, like renewable energy provisions, while eliminating proposed programs they see as more harmful. The CPP's carbon trading scheme, CJA argues, allows polluters to buy "permissions to pollute," or carbon credits, rather than actually stemming emissions.
The OPP further outlines ways that the EPA can ensure a "just transition" away from fossil fuels, encouraging states to invest in job creation, conduct equity analyses and "work with frontlines communities to develop definitions, indicators, and tracking and response systems that really account for impacts like health, energy use, cost of energy, climate vulnerability [and] cumulative risk."
Lacking support from Congress, the Obama administration has relied on executive action to push through everything from environmental action to comprehensive immigration reform. The Clean Power Plan was central to the package Obama brought to Paris. Also central to COP21 was US negotiators' insistence on keeping its results non-binding, citing Republican lawmakers' unwillingness to pass legislation.
Predictably, the CPP has faced legal challenges from the same forces, who decry the president for having overstepped the bounds of his authority. Republican state governments, utility companies, and fossil fuel industry groups have all filed suit against the CPP, with many asking for expedited hearings. Leading up the anti-CPP charge in Congress has been Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who hascalled the plan a "regulatory assault," pitting fossil fuel industry workers against the EPA. "Here's what is lost in this administration's crusade for ideological purity," he wrote in a November statement, "the livelihoods of our coal miners and their families."
Organizers of Tuesday's actions, however, were quick to point out that the Our Power Plan is aimed at strengthening - not defeating - the CPP as it stands. Denise Abdul-Rahman, of NAACP Indiana, helped organize an OPP delivery at the EPA's Region 5 headquarters in Chicago, bringing out representatives from Black Lives Matter Minneapolis, National People's Action and National Nurses United.
"We appreciate the integrity of the Clean Power Plan," she said. "However, we believe it needs to be improved - from eliminating carbon trading to ensuring that there's equity. We want to improve CPP by adding our voices and our plan, and we encourage the EPA to make it better." Four of the six states in that region - which includes Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin - are suing the EPA.
Endorsed by the National Domestic Workers' Alliance, Greenpeace and the Center for Popular Democracy, among other organizations, yesterday's national day of action on the EPA came as new details emerged in Flint, Michigan's ongoing water crisis - along with calls for Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder's resignation and arrest. The EPA has also admitted fault for its slow response to Flint residents' complaints, writing in a statement this week that "necessary [EPA] actions were not taken as quickly as they should have been."
Abdul-Rahman connected the water crisis with the need for a justly-implemented CPP. "The Flint government let their community down by not protecting our most precious asset, which is water," she said. "The same is true of air: we need the highest standard of protecting human beings' air, water, land."
Source: Truthout
Report: Federal Reserve Should Be ‘Fully Public,’ Increase Diversity in Highest Ranks
Report: Federal Reserve Should Be ‘Fully Public,’ Increase Diversity in Highest Ranks
Lawmakers should strip banks’ influence from the Federal Reserve’s leadership, make its regional banks publicly owned corporations and increase transparency in selecting its top leaders, according...
Lawmakers should strip banks’ influence from the Federal Reserve’s leadership, make its regional banks publicly owned corporations and increase transparency in selecting its top leaders, according to a report released Monday by the Fed Up Coalition, a campaign led by the left-leaning Center for Popular Democracy.
The 17-page report — co-authored by Fed Up Coalition Campaign Manager Jordan Haedtler, economist Valerie Wilson of the Economic Policy Institute and Dartmouth College economist Andrew Levin — is a more detailed version of a Fed overhaul framework proposed in April by Levin, a former Fed staffer, and urges members of Congress to make the central bank a “fully public institution” and scrub the influence of banks from its top echelons.
The report also proposes establishing annual audits of the Fed by the Government Accountability Office, reworking the selection process of Fed regional presidents and directors, returning capital shares to commercial banks invested in the regional Fed branches and opening the 12 regional banks to the Freedom of Information Act.
“We have really strived to make a proposal that we see as sensible and pragmatic and nonpartisan,” Levin said Monday in a conference call with reporters. “Over the years, both progressives and conservatives have felt strongly that big banks should not have an undue influence in the governance and the decision-making process of the Federal Reserve, and making the Fed fully public is an important way to do that.”
The proposal differs from previous “audit the Fed” measures, such as Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.)’s legislation that failed to garner the 60 votes needed to advance during a procedural vote in January, because it would prevent “political interference” in the central bank by establishing an annual schedule for GAO audits and giving the reviews a comprehensive focus rather than allowing members of Congress or congressional committees to single out monetary policy decisions, Levin said.
The report calls for greater diversity at the Fed’s top levels — both in terms of increasing racial and ethnic diversity and limiting the influence of financial sector power-brokers. It also said policymakers should be limited to a single seven-year term. Currently, the Fed chair is appointed to a four-yeart term that can be renewed. Members of the central bank’s Board of Governors are appointed to staggered 14-year terms, but their tenures average about four years. Regional Fed presidents have renewable five-year terms, and they typically hold office for at least two decades, according to today’s report.
The authors said that refunding shares to commercial banks with stakes in the regional Fed branches would save taxpayers about $3 billion over the next 10 years.
Members of the Fed Up Coalition are scheduled to meet later this week with Fed officials, including Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City President Esther George, at the central bank’s annual policy symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyo. The meeting with George won’t center on today’s report, but instead will focus on “presenting stories of communities that still have not recovered from the Great Recession,” Haedtler said.
By TARA JEFFRIES
Source
Coalición defiende ley que protege a trabajadores de la construcción
El Diario - April 16, 2014, by Mariela Lombard - Más de una veintena de organizaciones comunitarias y sindicatos se han unido en una coalición para presionar para que no se reforme una legislación...
El Diario - April 16, 2014, by Mariela Lombard - Más de una veintena de organizaciones comunitarias y sindicatos se han unido en una coalición para presionar para que no se reforme una legislación que protege la seguridad de los 1.5 millones trabajadores de construcción del estado de Nueva York.
Este mismo lunes un obrero cuya identidad aún no ha sido divulgada murió después de caerse de un andamio situado en una zona de construcción cercana a Penn Station, en Manhattan. Es la segunda muerte de este tipo que sucede este mes en la ciudad, después de que otro trabajador falleciera el pasado 2 de abril por la misma causa mientras laboraba en unas obras en el New York Dream Hotel de la calle 55.
“Estos trágicos accidentes demuestran por qué se deben mantener los más altos estándares de seguridad para los trabajadores de construcción”, dijo Valeria Treves, directora de la organización pro inmigrante NICE, que funciona también como centro de jornaleros. “La seguridad es especialmente importante para los trabajadores inmigrantes, porque muchos de ellos nos reportan que les encargan las tareas que más riesgo conllevan”.
De acuerdo a la Oficina de Estadísticas Laborales, el 60% de los obreros del estado que murieron por caídas en el trabajo entre 2003 y 2011 eran hispanos y/o inmigrantes. En la ciudad de Nueva York la cifra fue aún mayor, llegando al 74%.
Peter Ward, presidente de HTC, sindicato que agrupa a los trabajadores de hoteles, criticó a contratistas y compañías de seguros “sin escrúpulos” por estar cabildeando en Albany para reformar la conocida como “Ley de Seguridad del Andamio” (Scaffold Safety Law), alegando que eleva demasiado los costes de construcción y va en perjuicio de la creación de puestos de trabajo.“
Quieren que sea la responsabilidad de los trabajadores el mantener un lugar de trabajo seguro. La actual ley pone la responsabilidad donde corresponde: en los contratistas, que deben asegurarse que todo trabajador tenga el equipo correspondiente”, enfatizó Ward.
La ley obliga a empleadores y compañías de construcción a proveer equipamiento y entrenamiento de seguridad a todos sus empleados. Eso pretende evitar casos como el del obrero Cresencio Pantoja, quién hace siete años salvó la vida de milagro cuando se precipitó al vacío desde una altura de 23 pies mientras renovaba la fachada de una escuela de El Bronx, por no contar con un arnés de seguridad.
“Mi jefe estaba más preocupado de que se hiciera rápido el trabajo que de la seguridad de sus empleados. Muchos otros trabajadores tampoco tenían arneses de seguridad”, dijo Pantoja, que estuvo cuatro días en coma después del accidente y aún no ha podido volver a trabajar por las heridas. Se mantiene desde entonces con la indemnización que recibió de la constructora, uno de los derechos que garantiza la actual ley.
Otro participante en la coalición es el sindicato SEIU 32BJ, que representa a 120,000 trabajadores de servicios.
“Decenas de miles de hombres y mujeres, muchos de ellos inmigrantes, arriesgan su vida construyendo y reparando nuestra ciudad. Limpiar ventanas o trabajar en un andamio es muy peligroso”, señaló el presidente de la unión, Héctor Figueroa. “No entendería que nuestros funcionarios convirtieran este trabajo en algo aún más peligroso quitando las protecciones de la Ley de Seguridad del Andamio”.
Gary LaBarbera, presidente del Concejo de Construcción de Nueva York, apoya otra legislación introducida en la Asamblea y el Senado Estatal, denominada Ley de Transparencia de Seguros para Construcciones de 2014, que también dice ayudaría a mejorar la seguridad de los obreros.
“Esta ley deja abiertos los datos de los asegurados que nos permitirá analizar de forma transparente esta situación y encontrar soluciones para reducir los costos sin dejar de mejorar la seguridad”, señaló.La coalición ha lanzado una página web para llamar la atención sobre su causa: www.scaffoldsafetylaw.com.
Qué es la Ley de Seguridad del Andamio y qué protecciones ofrece a los trabajadores de construcción
La ley tiene su origen en 1885, cuando se empezaron a construir los grandes rascacielos en la Ciudad de Nueva York. Especifica que los contratistas y los dueños de las propiedades deben asegurarse de que los andamios, montacargas y otros dispositivos utilizados en laconstrucción y reparación de edificios, sean montados y operados de manera que se proteja la integridad de las personas empleadas para la tarea.
Cuando se producen heridas y muertes por la violación de estos términos, la ley dice que los contratistas y dueños son los únicos responsables y deben indemnizar a los perjudicados.Aquellos que quieren reformarla reclaman que se incluya una enmienda para que un jurado o árbitro judicial decida en cada caso si el pago por daños tiene que ser menor si se determina que también ha habido negligencia por parte del trabajador a la hora de seguir los procedimientos de seguridad. Estos opositores denuncian que la formulación actual de la legislación dispara los costos de los seguros.
Denuncie la falta de seguridad
Si un trabajador de la construcción observa fallos en las medidas de seguridad, el primer paso que recomiendan las organizaciones laborales es hablar con otros compañeros y reportarlo en grupo al supervisor. Si el supervisor no hace nada por solucionarlo, el siguiente paso es presentar una queja a la Administración de Seguridad y Salud Ocupacional (OSHA) para que lleve a cabo una investigación.
La queja se puede presentar en español rellenando un formulario online (www.osha.gov) o llamando al 1-800-321-OSHA para localizar la oficina más cercana.
Todos los empleados de construcción, independientemente de su estatus migratorio, tienen derecho a la seguridad en el lugar de trabajo.
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Pittsburgh marchers decry racial, economic injustice
Pittsburgh marchers decry racial, economic injustice
The message was often strident, but the mood of Friday afternoon’s “Still We Rise” march was spirited. More than 1,500 demonstrators, some in strollers, marched down Grant Street under the wing of...
The message was often strident, but the mood of Friday afternoon’s “Still We Rise” march was spirited. More than 1,500 demonstrators, some in strollers, marched down Grant Street under the wing of a gold-crested phoenix, a mythical bird whose rebirth from its own ashes captured the march theme.
“It was beautiful, it was powerful, and it was peaceful,” said Erin Kramer, the head of local activist group One Pittsburgh.
The march drew support from People’s Convention, a two-day gathering of left-leaning community activist groups from 30 states. Demonstrators wielded caricatures of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and UPMC head Jeffrey Romoff, in complementary shades of red-orange. And they made frequent stops along Grant Street, where speakers denounced what they saw as cases of racial and economic injustice.
Check back for more updated video with interviews and more scenes from the "Still We Rise" march to protest growing inequality and hate. (Video by Pam Panchak; edited by Melissa Tkach)
A key concern was rising distrust between police and minority groups nationwide. This week, two African-American men, Louisiana resident Alton Sterling and Minnesota resident Philando Castile, died at the hands of police. Five officers were killed by a sniper during a Thursday protest in Dallas.
Outside the Allegheny County Courthouse, demonstrators chanted “Indict, convict, send those killer cops to jail. The whole damn system is guilty as hell.” Still, while a stepped-up police presence was noticeable during the march, there was little tension.
“I’m not feeling any concern” about the marchers, said Police Chief Cameron McLay, who was on hand for the event. Police, he said, were watching for “what else is out there,” including possible attacks on the marchers themselves. The chief called the event “a positive demonstration of First Amendment rights.”
Michelle Tremillo, executive director of the Texas Organizing Project, said members of her organization had participated in the Dallas protest. "It took us until 1 a.m. to make sure that all of our people were home safely," she said. "I was struggling to be here."
"My heart aches for Alton’s family, my heart aches for Philando’s family, and my heart aches for those police officers and their families," Ms. Tremillo said.
But she and others said they hoped shock over the Dallas shooting wouldn’t obscure the racial- and economic-justice issues raised by the march. "I'd hate for that to get lost."
Outside the federal courthouse, demonstrators called for the release of Martin Esquivel-Hernandez, a Mexico-born Pittsburgh resident facing deportation. In May, the Department of Justice said Mr. Esquivel-Hernandez had previously been removed from the United States four times. But Friday his wife, Alma, held aloft his shoes and through an interpreter called him a “father of a U.S. citizen [and] a hard worker. The system has failed him and all of us.”
The march ended outside Republican Sen. Pat Toomey’s office in Station Square, where demonstrators decried fracking for natural gas.
“We wanted to display unity and make the connection between racial justice and economic justice,” said Ana Maria Archila, a co-executive director of the Center for Popular Democracy, which is hosting the convention. “And the march really achieved that.”
By Chris Potter
Source
Immigrants, unions march on May Day for rights, against Trump
Immigrants, unions march on May Day for rights, against Trump
NEW YORK — Immigrant and union groups will march in cities across the United States on Monday to mark May Day and protest against President Donald Trump's efforts to boost deportations.
...
NEW YORK — Immigrant and union groups will march in cities across the United States on Monday to mark May Day and protest against President Donald Trump's efforts to boost deportations.
Tens of thousands of immigrants and their allies are expected to rally in cities such as New York, Chicago, Seattle and Los Angeles. Demonstrations also are planned for dozens of smaller cities from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, to Portland, Oregon.
Read full article here.
Mortgage Settlement Report Finds Banks Reluctant To Reduce Principal, Despite Promises
The largest mortgage settlement in U.S. history was pitched by its creators as a deal that would offer quick aid to 1 million people in danger of losing their homes to foreclosure. But according...
The largest mortgage settlement in U.S. history was pitched by its creators as a deal that would offer quick aid to 1 million people in danger of losing their homes to foreclosure. But according to a report released Thursday by the court-appointed monitor of the settlement, in the first nine months after the $25 billion deal was struck, fewer than 50,000 people received the most coveted form of relief: reduction of principal owed on a first mortgage.
Meanwhile, more than three times as many borrowers -- 169,000 -- agreed to a short sale, which requires they leave the property, according to the report.
Banks still have time to meet their obligations under the settlement, which requires that 30 percent of total relief come in the form of first mortgage principal reduction. But housing advocates say the limited progress so far -- just 14 percent of aid has gone to write down loan balances -- suggests that banks are avoiding, or at least delaying, their obligation to provide meaningful relief as they promised under the deal.
"The numbers are hugely out of whack," said Dan Petegorsky, a spokesman for a group called Campaign for a Fair Settlement. "In some cases banks are five or six times as likely to kick someone out of their house than they are to forgive their debt."
The fear, said Petegorsky and other advocates, is that with each passing month, more homeowners who could have been helped will fall into foreclosure. More than 4 million families have lost their homes since 2007, when the subprime housing market collapsed.
Under the mortgage settlement, reached last March with state and federal authorities, the five settling banks -- JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and Ally Financial -- agreed to resolve widespread mortgage fraud and mismanagement allegations. The deal also sought to close the book on the "robo-signing" scandal, in which bank representatives allegedly forged documents and signatures in order to speed foreclosures through the pipeline. (The deal is separate from an $8.5 billion legal agreement reached in January between 11 mortgage companies and two federal bank regulators over similar "servicing" abuse claims.)
The court appointed Joseph Smith, a former North Carolina banking commissioner, to oversee the $25 billion settlement. His report is based on data reported from the banks. Smith has not yet confirmed the data, he said.
Even so, his report offers a detailed state-by-state look at where the banks are directing the relief, and what options they are choosing to do so. All told, 550,000 people have received some sort of assistance valued at $45 billion, according to the report. (Because banks can claim different dollar credits for different activities, that figure does not mean they have exceeded what they promised under the settlement.)
In an interview, Smith said that while the banks are clearly favoring short sales over other forms of relief, he thinks they will ultimately forgive enough first mortgage principal debt to meet their obligations. As an example, he cited Ally Financial, the smallest of the settling institutions, which he certified had met its targets.
Smith said he believed that the "vast majority" of relief offered so far, which includes aid like interest reductions and forbearance agreements as well as principal reductions and short sales, has helped homeowners.
He said the banks still have work to do to meet the other major goal of the agreement: reforming how they manage the accounts of troubled borrowers. As of Oct 2., banks were supposed to have met 304 different standards or face financial penalties for failing to do so. Although he declined to discuss how widespread persistent problems might be, Smith noted in his report that his office had received 5,700 complaints from consumers in all states, along with 600 submissions from professionals. Complaints are on the rise, he said, though it isn't clear whether the jump is the result of the increased visibility of his office.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Office of the New York Attorney General, which had key roles in shaping the mortgage settlement, did not return requests for comment. In a statement, HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan said the report "marks a major milestone in our efforts to assist struggling homeowners."
“We have already surpassed our initial expectations and the settlement is testament to the fact that large-scale principal reduction can be used an important tool in our efforts to prevent foreclosures without incurring negative results," he said.
Under the deal, banks typically get more credit for meeting their obligations for offering principal reduction than they do for other types of aid, such as interest rate reductions or short sales. But in banking circles, principal reduction has remained the most controversial option. Both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, under orders from Federal Housing Finance Administration acting director Edward DeMarco, have refused to permit principal reduction in most instances on their loans. Banks then can only offer these kinds of write-downs on the relatively small pool of loans they own themselves, or convince investors who bought shares of loan pools in the years before or after the housing collapse to go along. This difficulty could explain why banks appear to be lagging on principal-reduction offers.
Another possible explanation: not every borrower wants, nor would qualify for, a reduction in principal. For some, short sales are the best option. Under these agreements, the bank sells the house but doesn't hold the borrower financially accountable for the difference between the sale price and what is owed.
Even so, principal forgiveness on a first mortgage is clearly the most desirable option for most borrowers, said Elizabeth Lynch, an attorney at MFY Legal Services, which offers free legal aid in New York City. "It's the modification of the first loan that saves the home," she said.
According to Lynch, that isn't happening often enough. Instead, when banks do offer principal reduction, it most often comes on a second mortgage, also sometimes called a home equity loan, according to Smith's report. Bank of America, for example, reported it had extinguished -- forgiven the entire principal amount -- of 141,000 second mortgages, compared to just 21,000 first mortgages.
Lynch recently argued in a New York Times op-ed that eliminating a small second mortgage, though sometimes helpful, doesn't help the vast majority of borrowers struggling to avoid foreclosure and stay in their homes.
Bank of America, which has a financial obligation under the settlement roughly equal to that of the four other banks combined, said in a statement that by forgiving a second mortgage, "a reasonable payment through modification may be more attainable." Even so, the bank acknowledged, "foreclosure activities likely would have continued" in instances where a foreclosure proceeding on the first mortgage was already underway. In other words, the bank acknowledged that it can claim credit for meeting obligations under the mortgage settlement for forgiving a loan that likely never would have been paid off anyway, and in instances that do not help homeowners avoid foreclosure.
Homeowner advocates said the report also indicates that the five settling banks are targeting the most valuable loans for principal reduction, rather than those in low-income communities. The average amount of first mortgage principal reduction granted was nearly $130,000 -- just $40,000 or so less than the median home sale price for January in the U.S.
At Bank of America, first-lien forgiveness averaged $160,000 of first mortgage principal reduction per loan. Does that large figure mean that the bank has favored borrowers in high-cost areas like Southern California or New York? Does it suggest that the bank is more likely to forgive the debt on an expensive home than on one in a downtrodden area like Detroit or Cleveland, where home prices often don't climb above $50,000?
Smith said he hasn't vetted the data yet, but for homeowner advocates, not knowing the answer to those questions is the biggest frustration.
"We want greater transparency on these numbers," Lynch said. "We don't know what they are doing."
Source:
Today we CAN do something to honor Heather Heyer. We can stand up against the hate that killed her.
Today we CAN do something to honor Heather Heyer. We can stand up against the hate that killed her.
We can honor Heather in the same way she stood up for justice and equality. We can rise up against the hate that took her life and that targets even more of our fellow Americans. There are events...
We can honor Heather in the same way she stood up for justice and equality. We can rise up against the hate that took her life and that targets even more of our fellow Americans. There are events taking place all across the country today against the hate and violence on display in Charlottesville this weekend. Find one and be there. If you can’t, please help spread the word so others may do so.
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2 days ago
2 days ago