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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsCalifornia City Threatens to Use Eminent Domain to Stop Bank Foreclosures (2013)
This is fantastic! It's from 2013, but I love how they took on the banks by shoving those low appraisals right back in their faces.
California City Threatens to Use Eminent Domain to Stop Bank Foreclosures
A town in California is making headlines on how it is tackling its foreclosure crisis. In Richmond, almost half of the citys residential mortgage holders are underwater. In a major development last week, Richmond became the first city in the country to offer to purchase mortgages of distressed homeowners from Wall Street banks and other lenders. Under a plan approved by the city council in April, the city can also use its eminent domain authority to purchase loans in order modify them and allow families to avoid foreclosure and stay in their homes. The banks sold our community predatory loans, and now they have no solution theyre presenting for this crisis, says Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin. We are stepping in by taking these troubled loans off the hands of the banks, and were paying them fair market value for these loans. And then were working with the homeowners to refinance and modify loans in line with current home values. We call on the banks to voluntarily sell us these loans, and if they dont cooperate, we will be considering eminent domain.
https://www.democracynow.org/2013/8/6/california_city_threatens_to_use_eminent
MichMan
(11,789 posts)What ever happened to this program, Was it successful? Is it still continuing?
I could not find any references to show that it was ever implemented in the first place
C Moon
(12,188 posts)Buying the property and selling them back to the owners at the low appraisal.
The banks got pissed off and tried to lobby their effort away.
Yeah, I don't know what happened either, but it was a gallant effort to save some homeowners.