This negligent, indifferent government is failing the people -- and not just the poor and minorities, whitey richer!
This country is going down the tubes, folks!
"After foreclosures, crime moves in" by J.W. Elphinstone/Associated Press November 18, 2007
NEW YORK - Eighty-five bungalows dot the cul-de-sac that joins West Ontario Avenue and East Ontario Avenue in Atlanta. Twenty-two are vacant, victims of mortgage fraud and foreclosure. Now house fires, prostitution, vandals, and burglaries plague this historic neighborhood called Westview Village.
As defaults surge on mortgages made to borrowers with spotty credit and adjustable-rate loans, more people are noticing that their neighbors are caught up in the meltdown. Their misfortunes are haunting those left living on the same streets. The effects aren't confined to just low-income or redeveloping communities; they are seeping into middle-class neighborhoods and brand new developments.
Officer Dakarta Richardson of the Atlanta Police Department:
"They've seen a lot of prostitution in the area, vagrants wandering in and out of the empty houses, and drug activity. Some people that I talked to are afraid to walk out of their homes at night."
Some other people in the area have been affected by break-ins, and there have been house fires in several of the vacant homes in the past year, Richardson said.
The rise in crime in Westview is typical of a neighborhood struggling with numerous foreclosures.
A report published last week by the Center for Responsible Lending, a Durham, N.C.-based consumer advocate, estimates that 44.5 million US households will see their property values decline a combined $223 billion as foreclosures surge in coming years, particularly in minority communities.
Historically the most affected areas were lower-income and were prone to subprime and predatory lending, irresponsible house flipping, and mortgage fraud, Dan Immergluck of Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta said.
However, "the problem now is on a different scale," he said. "It's affecting a lot more suburban, moderate-income places" as more people of different incomes default on riskier loans.
In the Franklin Reserve neighborhood of Elk Grove, Calif., full of subdivisions with half-million-dollar homes, homeowners are fighting inner-city problems like gangs, drugs, theft, and graffiti.
Maybe the rich will enjoy some of the inner-city stuff, and we can start caring for the whole country, 'eh?
During the boom, the suburb just south of Sacramento sprouted 10,000 homes in four years, attracting investors from the San Francisco area. Now many houses stand empty, weeds overtaking lawns, signs lining the street: "Bank Repo," "For Rent," "No trespassing - bank owned property."
You think you'd be better off renting, right, reader?
WRONG, reader!
As Owners Feel Mortgage Pain, So Do Renters
