State Leaders Reach Deal to Raise Minimum Wage
The New York Times - March 18, 2013, by Thomas Kaplan - Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and legislative leaders reached a tentative agreement on Monday to increase the state’s minimum wage to $9 over...
The New York Times - March 18, 2013, by Thomas Kaplan - Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and legislative leaders reached a tentative agreement on Monday to increase the state’s minimum wage to $9 over the next three years.
Increasing the wage had been a top priority of Democrats in Albany, including the Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver, and one of the leaders of the Senate, Jeffrey D. Klein, who heads an independent faction of Democrats. Along with Mr. Cuomo, they had argued that the current minimum wage in New York, $7.25, was too low to support workers, and that the wage had not kept pace with the rising cost of living.
Mr. Silver, of Manhattan, said that if the Legislature raised the minimum wage to $9, “I think we’ve done a tremendous service.” He spoke to reporters after he and other legislative leaders met with Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, early Monday evening.
The deal would raise the minimum wage to $8 per hour next year. The wage would rise again to $8.75 in 2015 and $9 by the start of 2016.
The agreement was described by people who had been briefed on the negotiations, but who spoke on the condition of anonymity because a deal on the overall budget had not yet been reached. Increasing the wage to $9 would match the level to which President Obama has proposed raising the federal minimum wage.
If the wage increase is approved by the Legislature, as expected, New York would join 18 other states with minimum wages above the federal minimum as of the start of this year, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. The $9 wage would be one of the highest in the country, although lawmakers in many other states are also contemplating increasing their minimum wage this year. New York’s current minimum wage took effect in 2009 when the federal minimum became $7.25.
Michael Kink, the executive director of the Strong Economy for All Coalition, a group backed by labor unions that has advocated a minimum-wage increase, said he was pleased with the emerging deal. But Mr. Kink said it was disappointing that the wage increase would not be indexed to inflation, as liberal groups and labor unions had sought so that the wage would automatically increase in the future.
“If this stays on track to get to $9, then workers all over the state are going to get a real raise, and that’s a good thing,” Mr. Kink said.
Republicans were concerned that raising the wage could hurt the state’s fragile economy, but have agreed to the increase in exchange for tax breaks; the Senate Republican leader, Dean G. Skelos, told reporters that the plan would also include at least $700 million in new tax cuts for businesses and families.
Some business groups remain concerned about the proposed minimum-wage increase. Mike Durant, the New York State director for the National Federation of Independent Business, said the wage increase would still have a detrimental effect on small businesses, especially upstate.
“In an economy that’s stagnant, that’s an enormous amount of significant pressure on small businesses that’s going to threaten their viability,” Mr. Durant said. He said the fact that the increase would be phased in, and would be accompanied by tax breaks, was a plus, but not enough.
“Does it help? Sure,” he said. “Does it mitigate the damage completely? Absolutely not.”
The developing agreement on the minimum wage and the tax cuts came as Mr. Cuomo and legislative leaders continued to negotiate over the fine points of an overall state spending plan, which must be approved by April 1. Mr. Cuomo proposed a $143 billion spending plan in January.
Legislative leaders said they were hopeful that an overall deal on the budget could be reached by Tuesday; they are trying to finish the budget early this year so lawmakers can head home for Passover and Easter.
“We’re very close to having a deal,” Mr. Skelos, of Long Island, told reporters after the meeting with Mr. Cuomo.
Among the other items under negotiation: whether to extend a new tax bracket on the state’s highest earners that was created in December 2011 and is scheduled to expire at the end of 2014, and whether to decriminalize the visible possession of small amounts of marijuana in an effort to reduce the number of low-level marijuana arrests in New York City. The marijuana decriminalization proposal, which Republicans in the Senate resisted last year, remained a sticking point on Monday night.
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Diverse Chorus Applauds as Mayor Bloomberg Signs Two Bills Limiting NYC’s Participation in Widely Discredited Immigration Enforcement Programs
New York、NY
Intros 982 and 989, sponsored by Speaker Christine Quinn and Councilmember Melissa Mark-Viverito, respectively, will limit numbers of undocumented immigrants held...
New York、NY
Intros 982 and 989, sponsored by Speaker Christine Quinn and Councilmember Melissa Mark-Viverito, respectively, will limit numbers of undocumented immigrants held through the widely discredited ‘Secure Communities’ Program
A broad coalition voiced its support of legislation that Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed into law today that will further limit NYC’s collaboration with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the widely discredited program “Secure Communities,” which has been actively operating in New York City since May 2012. Secure Communities, which has caused substantial opposition across the country, connects local authorities like the NYPD to ICE databases and allows immigration to request that the police hold immigrants who they suspect of being deportable. The legislation (Intros 982 and 989) will prevent the NYPD and the Department of Corrections from holding and handing over certain categories of individuals, including those who have no criminal records, and a few categories of those with prior convictions for minor offenses. The proposals are a very positive step and build off of initial legislation passed in 2011 limiting the city’s collaboration with ICE in the Department of Corrections.
“The bills signed today are New York City’s call to the rest of the country, as national attention focuses on the possibility of comprehensive immigration reform,” said Nisha Agarwal, Deputy Director of the Center for Popular Democracy. “By limiting the impact of Secure Communities and punitive federal immigration enforcement policies, this legislation makes clear that we must—as a city and a country—choose a path forward on immigration that protects our families, sustains our communities and promotes the hard work and opportunity that boosts our economy.”
Javier Valdes, Co-Executive Director of Make the Road New York, said, “By signing this bill into law New York once again takes a step to protect immigrant families. As we continue to fight for family unity and immigration reform, we are proud that our city leads the way towards a system and country we want.”
“We applaud Mayor Bloomberg, Speaker Quinn and the New York City Council for enacting this important piece of legislation signaling that New York City will not stand for laws or regulations that harass immigrants and turn police officers into de facto immigration agents,” said Hector Figueroa, president of 32BJ SEIU. “Immigration reform is not simply a social justice issue, but a workers’ issue. Now, Congress must enact a complete package of common sense immigration reforms to protect the 11 million undocumented immigrants in our country and allow them to come out of the shadows and earn a good livi ng so they and their families can become part of the middle class.”
“This legislation will allow thousands of New Yorkers to return home to their families and will improve public safety by demonstrating that New York City is not an extension of the federal government’s inhumane deportation system,” said Lindsay Nash, Liman Fellow at the Immigrant Justice Clinic of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.
“As public defenders, we at Brooklyn Defender Services witness on a daily basis the devastating impact S-Comm has on our local communities,” said Lisa Schreibersdorf, Executive Director of Brooklyn Defender Services. “Today, New York City has demonstrated critical and very welcome leadership with this new law. We applaud our city’s leadership on this issue, and look forward to the protections this law will afford to immigrant New Yorkers and their families.”
“By exempting individuals with prior arrests or convictions for Prostitution and Loitering for the Purposes of Prostitution, this bill will protect many sexworkers, human trafficking survivors, and immigrants who are at risk of profiling, such as transgender women. We applaud the City Council and Mayor for seeking to protect these individuals from the danger of deportation,” said Lynly Egyes, staff attorney at the Urban Justice Center.
“We commend Mayor Bloomberg for signing this S-Comm legislation,” said Diane Steinman, Director of the Interfaith Network for Immigration Reform. “In doing so, the Mayor has acted with justice and compassion, and made a clear moral statement to our state and nation: immigrants who are good neighbors and contributing members of our communities deserve to remain among us, free from fear of deportation that shatters immigrant lives and families.”
Report: Threat of Foreclosure on Calif. Homes Disproportionately Affects Minorities
National Journal, The Next America - March 15, 2013 - Leading mortgage lender Wells Fargo is urged to be more transparent about relief reporting and to grant principal reductions. An overwhelming...
National Journal, The Next America - March 15, 2013 - Leading mortgage lender Wells Fargo is urged to be more transparent about relief reporting and to grant principal reductions. An overwhelming majority of homes in California’s major cities that are in danger of foreclosure are also in majority-minority ZIP codes, according to a report released this week.
The report focuses particularly on homes with mortgages serviced by Wells Fargo. Of the 21 major California cities examined, more than eight in 10 homes in danger of foreclosure are in areas where at least half of its residents are minorities—evidence, the report’s authors say, that further supports the idea that the housing crisis has been particularly harmful to African-American and Hispanic homeowners.
The findings come on the heels of the housing-market decline and the ensuing Great Recession that ensnared many homeowners who have been fighting to maintain their financial standing and retain their homes. While the report focuses on the California economy, other Americans are in similar circumstances. Across the nation, homeowners—many of them minorities—struggle to stay afloat as they watch their savings plummet and their dreams of maintaining a middle-class American lifestyle disappear. In its place are notices of default and the impending threat of bankruptcy.
In California, a total of 65,466 homes are in the pipeline for foreclosure, many of them purchased before the housing market crash in 2007.
Coauthor Ady Barkan, of the Center for Popular Democracy, a national organization based in New York, said the report focuses on Wells Fargo because the bank is responsible for the highest number of homes in California’s foreclosure pipeline—in addition to being headquartered in the same state. As leading lender, the bank is responsible for mortgages for 11,616 California homes—nearly 1 in 5 homes in the pipeline.
The “foreclosure pipeline” refers to homes that have received a notice of default or a notice of trustee sale. While some homeowners eventually pay back the debt, more often the homes are foreclosed, Barkan said.
Wells Fargo spokeswoman Vickie Adams took a contrary view, saying that the term “pipeline” can be overused and doesn’t take into consideration the complexities of the mortgage-lending industry. She added that the bank offers various programs and workshops to help educate its customers on their options to prevent losing their home.
“It’s always challenging to articulate some of the specifics of what some perceive to be a pipeline of sorts,” she said. “The facts are when a home has come to foreclosure, there are oftentimes that a customer is able to find options to prevent [it].… In foreclosure, no one wins. What we do is try to provide a great deal of support to the community in a number of ways.”
The wide variety of data sources that reports use can often create conclusions that aren’t necessarily in line with standard industry practices, Adams added.
“We all understand everyone’s right to raise issues they believe are important, but I think it’s really important, again, to look at the data and understand what the data says and use the measures that are appropriate for the industry,” she added.
According to the report, the opaque nature of Wells Fargo’s reporting data has made it difficult to track who is receiving the help. The report’s authors urge the bank to practice more-transparent reporting practices that include race, ZIP code, and income data for all foreclosures, short sales, and principal reductions.
According to Adams, the data for relief efforts and other information is available through industry publications such as RealtyTrac and Inside Mortgage Finance, as well as government sources.
Last year, the bank settled a lawsuit with the Justice Department, which alleged that the financial institution had discriminated against minority borrowers during the housing bubble, charging higher fees and rates to minorities than whites, even when they had the same credit risk.
The Wells Fargo case wasn’t unique: Lawsuits surrounding discriminatory housing practices and predatory sub-prime mortgage lending hit major banks everywhere.
(RELATED: Big Banks, Racial Discrimination Linked in Housing Crisis)
Using data from the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act Database, the report found that between 2007 and 2009, Wells Fargo was 188 percent more likely to put African-Americans into riskier sub-prime loans than white borrowers with similar credit history; the risk for Hispanics was 117 percent.
Adams maintains that Wells Fargo is a “fair and responsible lender” that adheres to regulations according to the Fair Lending Act. She added that the bank works closely with various advocacy and real estate organizations to help minority and low-income borrowers.
The report, co-authored by the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, Center for Popular Democracy, and the Home Defenders League, asks Wells Fargo to commit to principal reductions in the interest of saving homeowners from complete financial ruin.
Between 2009 and 2012, Wells Fargo granted $6.3 billion in principal forgiveness; their goal is to hit $7 billion by 2014, Adams said.
“We take it very seriously, and we work very hard at it. We really are focused on excellence, helping our customers succeed financially, and we have a culture of continuously improving our home-lending activity,” Adams said.
The report argues that allowing all 65,466 homes in California to be foreclosed would be a detriment to the state and local economy. Foreclosure would cause the homes to lose 22 percent of their value, at an estimated cost of $7.6 billion. Maintenance costs for vacant homes would cost the government $19,227, resulting in a total cost of nearly $467 million for taxpayers.
“Communities have already sustained significant harm from the foreclosure crisis; unless Wells Fargo changes its practices, more harm will be done in coming months and years. New homes continue to enter the pipeline, inflicting tremendous stress and damage on homeowners and communities until Wells Fargo adopts significant new policies,” the report states.
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California in Crisis - The Report
A Report on the Foreclosure Crisis
California in Crisis: How Wells Fargo's Foreclosure Pipeline is Damaging Local Communities
Five years after the housing market collapsed,...
Five years after the housing market collapsed, California’s economy remains weak. The unemployment rate is nearly 10 percent, twice what it was in 2006, and in 2012 the State’s underemployment rate averaged an astonishing 19.3 percent.
The continuing housing crisis remains a key cause of this widespread economic tragedy. Nearly two million California homeowners are underwater, owing more on their mortgage than their home is worth.
Since 2008, banks have foreclosed on approximately 1.7 million homes in the state. Right now, around 65,000 California homeowners are in the “foreclosure pipeline” – they’ve received a Notice of Default or a Notice of Trustee Sale. Every day, more and more families get added to this list.
Wells Fargo is the biggest mortgage service provider in California, responsible for nearly one in five of these impending foreclosures. This report shows the tremendous damage that will befall California’s communities if Wells Fargo continues to foreclose on so many families.
Download the report here.
Executive SummaryFive years after the housing market collapsed, California’s economy remains weak. The unemployment rate is nearly 10 percent, twice what it was in 2006, and in 2012 the State’s underemployment rate averaged an astonishing 19.3 percent. Millions of Californians are struggling to make ends meet.
The continuing housing crisis remains a key cause of this widespread misery. Nearly two million California homeowners are underwater, owing more on their mortgage than their home is worth. This tremendous mortgage debt is severely crippling the State’s economy by holding back consumer spending and preventing a robust recovery.
And the mortgage debt is devastating the lives of too many Californians. Since 2008, banks have foreclosed on approximately 1.7 million homes in the state. Right now, about 65,000 California homeowners are in the “foreclosure pipeline” – they’ve received a Notice of Default or a Notice of Trustee Sale. Every day, more and more families get added to this list.
Wells Fargo is the biggest mortgage servicer in California, responsible for nearly one in five of these impending foreclosures. This report shows the tremendous damage that will befall California’s communities if Wells Fargo continues to foreclose on so many families. As of February 2013, Wells Fargo had 11,616 homes in its foreclosure pipeline. If all of these homes were to go through foreclosure:
Each home would lose approximately 22 percent of its value, for a total loss of approximately $1.07 billion, Homes in the surrounding neighborhood would lose value as well, for an additional loss of about $2.2 billion; and Government tax revenues would be cut by $20 million, as a result of that depreciation.Every month, more homes fall into the foreclosure pipeline, compounding this disaster. The foreclosure crisis has hit African-American and Latino borrowers and communities particularly hard. The pages below highlight the concentration of distressed loans handled by Wells Fargo that are in African-American and Latino neighborhoods. These communities have already suffered tremendous wealth loss due to the recession and this report shows that far more harm will occur in the coming months unless Wells Fargo changes its policies.
But Californians do not have to accept this bleak future. Economists and policy experts across the political spectrum agree that an alternative approach to the housing crisis can be a win-win-win for homeowners, mortgage holders, and California’s economy. As this report explains, widespread modification of home mortgages to current market value would prevent tens of thousands of needless foreclosures, inject billions of dollars into the economy, create hundreds of thousands of new jobs – and would even be in the financial interest of the investors who own the mortgages.
Wells Fargo is a pivotal actor in determining whether principal reduction becomes a widespread solution. Its failure to lead on this issue is clear. The most recent report from the national monitor of the multi-state Attorneys General mortgage servicing settlement shows that in California, Wells Fargo is providing far less principal reduction than Bank of America, despite the fact that it services more loans.
The solutions are clear: Wells Fargo should (1) commit to a broad program of principal reduction, (2) be honest with Californians by reporting data on its principal reduction, short sales, and foreclosures by race, income, and zip code, and (3) immediately stop all foreclosures until the first two solutions are implemented.
After years of predatory lending and heartless foreclosures, it is time for Wells Fargo to stop. Stop the needless foreclosures. Stop the needless evictions. End this housing crisis.
Wells Fargo’s at the Bottom of the Heap
BeyondChron - March 14, 2013, by Christina Livingston - When it comes to foreclosing on Californians, it looks like Wells Fargo may take the prize. According to a report released this week, Wells...
BeyondChron - March 14, 2013, by Christina Livingston - When it comes to foreclosing on Californians, it looks like Wells Fargo may take the prize. According to a report released this week, Wells Fargo is responsible for more homes in the foreclosure pipeline in California than any other single lender.
Wells Fargo is servicing the most loans, but they are providing less principal reduction to struggling borrowers than either Bank of America and Chase – who themselves should be doing more! Wells Fargo trails behind Bank of America and Chase when it comes to the amount of principal reduction given with first lien loan modifications, according to the Monitor of the multi-state Attorneys General settlement with the five big mortgage servicers.
This is the very same Wells Fargo that just had its most profitable year ever in 2012, with earnings of $19 billion.
The report, California in Crisis: How Wells Fargo’s Foreclosure Pipeline Is Damaging Local Communities, by ACCE (Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment), the Center for Popular Democracy and the Home Defenders League, shows the harm coming to homeowners, communities and the economy unless Wells Fargo reverses its course and averts some or all of the impending foreclosures.
Click here to download the report.
The report uses data from Foreclosure Radar to look at loans currently in the foreclosure pipeline in California – meaning loans that have a Notice of Default or Notice of Trustee Sale. Of the 65,466 loans in the foreclosure pipeline, close to 20% of them are serviced by Wells Fargo.
If Wells Fargo’s 11,616 distressed loans go through foreclosure, California will take a next $3.3 billion hit: Each home will lose approximately 22 percent of its value, for a total loss of approximately $1.07 billion; homes in the surrounding neighborhood will lose value as well, for an additional loss of about $2.2 billion; and government tax revenues will be cut by $20 million, as a result of the depreciation.
And not surprisingly, African American and Latino communities will be particularly hard-hit. The report includes maps for seven major cities showing minority density and dots for each of Wells Fargo’s distressed loans. In city after city, they are heavily clustered in neighborhoods with high African American and Latino populations.
“My community has been absolutely devastated by the foreclosure crisis, and I put a lot of the blame at the doorstep of Wells Fargo,” says ACCE Home Defenders League member Vivian Richardson. “Wells Fargo’s heartless and unfair foreclosure practices are sending far more homes into foreclosure than is necessary.”
“Our communities and our entire State are still reeling from the housing crisis, and will be for years to come,” said San Francisco Supervisor David Campos. “As this report shows, the numbers of homes still facing foreclosure is enormous. Principal reduction is clearly a critical strategy for saving homes and stabilizing the economy. Wells Fargo and the other major banks should be doing more of it.”
The report recommends:
1. Wells Fargo should commit to a broad principal reduction program. This means that every homeowner facing hardship should be offered a loan modification, when Wells has the legal authority to do so. The modification should be based on an affordable debt-to-income ratio, achieved through a waterfall that prioritizes principal reduction and interest rate reductions. Junior liens must also be modified.
2. Wells Fargo should report data on its principal reduction, short sales, and foreclosures by race, income, and zip code. Wells Fargo must be more transparent about its mortgage practices. The bank has an egregious history of harming California’s African American and Latino communities through predatory and discriminatory lending. To show the public that it has reformed, Wells Fargo must make this data available. The people of California need to know that Well Fargo is no longer discriminating against people of color and is fairly and equitably providing relief to homeowners and to the hardest hit communities.
3. Wells Fargo should immediately stop all foreclosures until the first two demands are met In the event that it takes a few months to set up a fully functioning principal reduction program, Wells Fargo needs to immediately stop all foreclosures. Wells Fargo has done enough harm. It’s time to stop. California deserves a break.
ACCE is waging a campaign to push Wells Fargo to be a leader in California, their home state, in saving homes – beginning with their performance to comply with the Attorneys General Settlement and with the Homeowner Bill of Rights, but not ending there.
Click here to sign on to a letter to Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf to support the campaign demands.
Author info: Christina Livingston is the Executive Director of the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment. ACCE is a multi-racial, democratic, non-profit community organization building power in low to moderate income neighborhoods to stand and fight for social, economic and racial justice. ACCE has chapters in eleven counties across the State of California. For more information visit http://www.calorganize.org/ or follow ACCE on twitter@CalOrganize
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Wells Fargo: California Leader in Predatory Lending and Heartless Foreclosures
San Diego Free Press - March 13, 2012, by Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment - When it comes to foreclosing on Californians, it looks like Wells Fargo may take the prize. According...
San Diego Free Press - March 13, 2012, by Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment - When it comes to foreclosing on Californians, it looks like Wells Fargo may take the prize. According to a report released today, Wells Fargo is responsible for more homes in the foreclosure pipeline in California than any other single lender.
Wells Fargo is servicing the most loans, but they are providing less principal reduction to struggling borrowers than either Bank of America and Chase – who themselves should be doing more! The recent report from the Monitor of the multi-state Attorneys General settlement with the five big mortgage servicers showed that Wells Fargo trails behind Bank of America and Chase when it comes to the amount of principal reduction given as part of first lien loan modifications.
This is the very same Wells Fargo that just had its most profitable year ever in 2012, with earnings of $19 billion.
The report, California in Crisis: How Wells Fargo’s Foreclosure Pipeline Is Damaging Local Communities, by ACCE (Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment), the Center for Popular Democracy and the Home Defenders League, shows the harm coming to homeowners, communities and the economy unless Wells Fargo reverses its course and averts some or all of the impending foreclosures.
Click here to download the report.
The report uses data from Foreclosure Radar to look at loans currently in the foreclosure pipeline in California – meaning loans that have a Notice of Default or Notice of Trustee Sale. Of the 65,466 loans in the foreclosure pipeline, close to 20% of them are serviced by Wells Fargo.
If Wells Fargo’s 11,616 distressed loans go through foreclosure, California will take a next $3.3 billion hit: Each home will lose approximately 22 percent of its value, for a total loss of approximately $1.07 billion; homes in the surrounding neighborhood will lose value as well, for an additional loss of about $2.2 billion; and government tax revenues will be cut by $20 million, as a result of the depreciation.
And not surprisingly, African American and Latino communities will be particularly hard-hit. The report includes maps for seven major cities showing minority density and dots for each of Wells Fargo’s distressed loans. In city after city, they are heavily clustered in neighborhoods with high African American and Latino populations.
“My community has been absolutely devastated by the foreclosure crisis, and I put a lot of the blame at the doorstep of Wells Fargo,” says ACCE Home Defenders League member Vivian Richardson. “Wells Fargo’s heartless and unfair foreclosure practices are sending far more homes into foreclosure than is necessary.”
San Francisco Supervisor David Campos released a statement of support: “Our communities and our entire State are still reeling from the housing crisis, and will be for years to come. As this report shows, the numbers of homes still facing foreclosure is enormous. Principal reduction is clearly a critical strategy for saving homes and stabilizing the economy. Wells Fargo and the other major banks should be doing more of it.”
The report recommends:
Wells Fargo should commit to a broad principal reduction program.This means that every homeowner facing hardship should be offered a loan modification, when Wells has the legal authority to do so. The modification should be based on an affordable debt-to-income ratio, achieved through a waterfall that prioritizes principal reduction and interest rate reductions. Junior liens must also be modified.
Wells Fargo should report data on its principal reduction, short sales, and foreclosures by race, income, and zip code.Wells Fargo must be more transparent about its mortgage practices. The bank has an egregious history of harming California’s African American and Latino communities through predatory and discriminatory lending. To show the public that it has reformed, Wells Fargo must make this data available. The people of California need to know that Well Fargo is no longer discriminating against people of color and is fairly and equitably providing relief to homeowners and to the hardest hit communities.
Wells Fargo should immediately stop all foreclosures until the first two demands are met.In the event that it takes a few months to set up a fully functioning principal reduction program, Wells Fargo needs to immediately stop all foreclosures. Wells Fargo has done enough harm. It’s time to stop. California deserves a break.
ACCE is waging a campaign to push Wells Fargo to be a leader in California, their home state, in saving homes – beginning with their performance to comply with the Attorneys General Settlement and with the Homeowner Bill of Rights, but not ending there.
Click here to sign on to a letter to Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf to support to campaign demands.
Source
Housing advocates accuse Wells Fargo of damaging communities through foreclosures
89.3KPCC - March 13, 2013 - Wells Fargo writes the most mortgages in California. According to a ...
89.3KPCC - March 13, 2013 - Wells Fargo writes the most mortgages in California. According to a new report released Tuesday from a consortium of grassroots activists and housing advocates, 11,616 of those loans are currently in foreclosure, out of roughly 65,000 homes in foreclosure in the state.
The report accuses Wells Fargo of damaging both California communities and the state’s overall economy. It was produced by the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, the Center for Popular Democracy, and the Home Defenders League.
Ross Rhodes of the Alliance of Californians for Community Development said on a conference call Tuesday that Wells Fargo was singled out because the bank is "responsible for handling more delinquent loans than any other servicer."
He added that Wells Fargo is failing to live up to the terms of last year's mortgage settlement between the states and the country's biggest banks. Rhodes said that Wells is lagging behind both Bank of America and Chase in efforts to keep people in their homes.
In a statement, Wells Fargo said that its foreclosure rate in California is lower than its rate in the nation as a whole and that the report "appears to be an attempt to question Wells Fargo’s longstanding track record as a fair and responsible lender and servicer."
The bank emerged from the financial crisis relatively unscathed. But in recent years it has been called to task for past lending practices. It was was fined $175 million by the Justice Department in 2012 for steering minorities into costly subprime loans before the housing crisis.
The bank was also fined $148 million by the Securities and Exchange Commission for violations perpetrated by Wachovia Securities (Wells took control of Wachovia in 2008, at the height of crisis, when major U.S. banks were failing).
The report also argues that Wells Fargo’s foreclosures in the state are disproportionately affecting African American and Latino neighborhoods and could wind up costing the state $20 million in lost tax revenue.
The authors say that the solution is “principal reduction” — adjusting mortgages to reflect the reduced market value of homes in foreclosure.
Numerous economists support the idea of principal reduction, but the notion has been resisted at the federal level, most notably by Edward DeMarco, acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which has overseen mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac since they were taken into receivership during the financial crisis.
DeMarco has supported principal forbearance, a method that would not reduce the amount of mortgages held by Fannie and Freddie but rather restructure them so that homeowners could see more affordable payments.
The report's consortium of advocates doesn't favor forbearance, arguing that it can't address the core issue of borrowers drowing in debt.
But as tempting as principal reduction might be in theory, in practice is doesn't always lead to the homeowner staying in the home.
Economist Stuart Gabriel is Director of the Ziman Center for Real Estate at UCLA. He said that principal reduction isn't a "cure all."
"For borrowers that are deeply underwater, a modest amount of principal reduction is going to make no difference the ultimate outcome, which would be default and foreclosure," Gabriel said.
In its statement, Wells Fargo called its principal reduction efforts since 2009 "aggressive." But the advocacy groups said that Wells Fargo is one of the most difficult banks to work with, and that it engages in "dual tracking" — undertaking loan modifications at the same time it moves forward with the foreclosure process.
The report also recommends that Wells Fargo disclose more data about its foreclosures, and specifically about the impact that foreclosures are having on minority neighborhoods in California.
Gabriel said that more transparency about lending practices and the racial and geographical makeup of loan portfolios is always a good thing because additional information improves markets.
Source
Does Your Bay Area Neighborhood Have a High Wells Fargo Foreclosure Rate?
KQED - March 12, 2013 - California is still struggling to get back on its feet after a devastating housing crisis. And Wells Fargo is partly to blame for the sluggish recovery because it is...
KQED - March 12, 2013 - California is still struggling to get back on its feet after a devastating housing crisis. And Wells Fargo is partly to blame for the sluggish recovery because it is refusing to modify home loans, according to a coalition of homeowners groups.
By foreclosing on homeowners who can't make their payments, the San Francisco-based bank will suck billions of dollars out of the state's economy, according to the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, the Center for Popular Democracy and the Home Defenders League.
In a new report, the coalition charges that Wells Fargo has been less inclined to reduce the principle of home loans than have other banks, such as Bank of America.
Wells Fargo responded that it has a low foreclosure rate compared to the industry in general.
Wells Fargo's bias toward foreclosures is disproportionately affecting predominantly black and Latino neighborhoods, the report charges.
Right now, about 65,000 California homeowners have received notice of a pending foreclosure, and about 20 percent of these loans are serviced by Wells Fargo, the report says.
The report estimates that as of February 2013, Wells Fargo had 11,616 homes in its "foreclosure pipeline."
Foreclosing on the homes will have the following effects, according to the report:
Each home would lose approximately 22 percent of its value, for a total loss of approximately $1.07 billion,
Homes in the surrounding neighborhood would lose value as well, for an additional loss of about $2.2 billion, and
Government tax revenues would be cut by $20 million, as a result of that depreciation.
If the bank were to reduce the principle on the borrowers' loans, homeowners would have more money to spend. This would boost the state's economy, the coalition says.
Wells Fargo often bundles loans to sell to other entities, such as Fannie Mae, but acts as an agent for the new lender, collecting payments and handling foreclosures. In that capacity, Wells Fargo makes more money through foreclosures than loan modifications, the report says.
Wells Fargo has had an aggressive principal reduction program for loans that we own since 2009. Wells Fargo conducts all lending and servicing activities in a fair and responsible manner without regard to race or ethnicity. We are proud to be the nation’s leading lender.
Wells Fargo issued a written statement in response to the report:
Over the last four years, Wells Fargo has: • Helped more than 841,000 customers with loan modifications. • Provided $6.3 billion in principal forgiveness—most of which has gone to borrowers in California.
Wells Fargo consistently provides assistance to customers facing financial challenges. Wells Fargo’s delinquency and foreclosure rates continue to rate below the industry average. Here are the facts: • The combined national industry delinquency and foreclosure rates are roughly 11%. Wells Fargo’s is 7.04%. • The Wells Fargo foreclosure rate in California is 1.04%*, less than half of our national rate.
*As of Q4 2012
Source
2013 Race for Mayor: Low-Income New Yorkers
WNYC - March 1, 2013 - Brian Lehrer hosted a forum with seven mayoral hopefuls "2013 Race for Mayor: What's in it for Low-Income New Yorkers?" sponsored by The Community Service Society (CSS)...
WNYC - March 1, 2013 - Brian Lehrer hosted a forum with seven mayoral hopefuls "2013 Race for Mayor: What's in it for Low-Income New Yorkers?" sponsored by The Community Service Society (CSS) sponsored the event in partnership with Local 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union, the Center for Popular Democracy, and United New York.
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Uniting to Improve Wages and Conditions for Workers
Uniting to Improve Wages and Conditions for Workers
Huffington Post - February 26, 2013, by Camille Rivera - In March of 1968 -- just three weeks before he was assassinated -- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. declared in a speech that one of the great...
Huffington Post - February 26, 2013, by Camille Rivera - In March of 1968 -- just three weeks before he was assassinated -- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. declared in a speech that one of the great lessons of the civil rights struggle was that it was not just about integration -- but also about economic justice.
"We know now that it isn't enough to integrate lunch counters," Dr. King said. "What does it profit a man to be able to eat at an integrated lunch counter if he doesn't have enough money to buy a hamburger? ... What does it profit one to be able to attend an integrated school, when he doesn't earn enough money to buy his children school clothes?"
Unfortunately, 45 years later, we can still ask those questions.
New York is one of the richest cities in America, but it also has one of the widest income inequality gap in the nation: A report last year found that the top one percent of income earners made 32 percent of the income.
We have far too many hard-working New Yorkers, many of them people of color, working at or below minimum wage, often without overtime and benefits. They work in car washes, fast food restaurants, as airport security guards and in food service and small supermarkets.
That's Why UnitedNY, Make the Road NY, New York Communities for Change and labor organizations like the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union and 32BJ SEIU supported the workers when they formed an unprecedented coalition across all industries last summer, and held a big rally and march in New York City on July 24.
Since then, there have been actions, a boycott and a one-day fast food walk out -- all of which generated a great deal of public support. Five car washes have voted to join RWDSU; some supermarkets have settled unfair labor practices suits and agreed to pay a combined $750,000 in lost wages and back pay.
That's also why UnitedNY and the Center for Popular Democracy released a report on the ongoing plight of low-wage workers in New York City at a "Workers Rising" symposium on Feb. 13. The report spelled out the problem -- and organizing efforts -- and offered a list of recommendations to improve wages and working conditions for those at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder.
The recommendations range from supporting legislation to allow paid sick days for workers, to establishing a Mayor's Office of Labor Standards to ensure that employment laws are enforced, to urging New York State to allow the City to set a minimum wage higher than the State minimum, due to the higher cost of living in the five boroughs. These proposals are the result of conversations with workers who have struggled for far too long to make ends meet. They are the result of hearing from families who have lost loved ones who could not afford to take time off from work to get the medical care they needed before it was too late.
Hundreds of workers, advocates and community members turned out for the symposium, which featured lively panel discussions about strategies to help lift low-wage workers into the middle class. The energy inside those rooms was electric; the air was thick with hope and dreams.
A gaggle of elected officials was on hand for the Workers Rising event, including two declared mayoral candidates -- Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and former city comptroller Bill Thompson - as well as City Council members and others.
The report came just one day after President Obama said in his State of The Union speech that America should not be a place where working people who make minimum wage are still in poverty.
"That's wrong," he told a joint session of Congress. "In the wealthiest nation on earth, no one who works full-time should have to live in poverty."
Obama called for raising the federal minimum wage to $9 an hour, with indexing tied to cost of living increase. That's certainly a lot better than $7.25, which is the minimum wage at the federal level and in the State of New York, but nowhere near enough in New York City.
The UnitedNY/CPD report said raising the minimum wage to $10 an hour would allow full-time workers to make just $20,000 a year. The report also noted that more than 110,000 full-time workers live in poverty.
Any way you look at it, an increase in the minimum wage is overdue, and needs to be enacted immediately. If it can't be approved on the federal or state levels, those of us here in New York City must find a way to increase it locally. It is clear that $7.25 an hour is not enough to make ends meet, and the time for change is now.
All in all, the symposium helped to foster real conversation between elected officials, policy experts, and the low-wage workers themselves about the economic issues that are plaguing New York's workforce. Symposium attendees left the conference energized, engaged and filled with hope. They would have made Dr. King proud.
Source: Huffington Post
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