The Washington Independent

Posts Tagged housing and urban development

Portland housing outcry failed to understand complexity of discrimination enforcement, says HUD spokesman

By | 05.19.11 | 12:31 pm

This story was updated at 12:45 p.m. to add further comments from HUD.

The Fair Housing Council of Oregon recently published its audit of Portland for the city’s Housing Bureau which revealed 64 percent of black and Latino renters in the stalwart liberal city were discriminated against when inquiring More…

HUD policy: Discrimination on basis of sexual orientation, gender identity prohibited

The federal department of Housing and Urban Development has announced a new policy initiative to prohibit discrimination in housing programs on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

“This is a fundamental issue of fairness,” said HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan. “We have a responsibility to make certain More…

The Obama Administration Against a Foreclosure Moratorium

By | 10.18.10 | 11:00 am

Today, the Obama administration lays out the case against a nationwide foreclosure moratorium. In the Huffington Post, Shaun Donovan, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, argues that the government is investigating the foreclosure fraud crisis and that a moratorium would prove counterproductive in terms of helping homeowners in More…

Who Should Have Been Regulating Mortgage Servicers?

By | 10.13.10 | 10:37 am

The unfolding foreclosure fraud crisis centers on mortgage servicers, companies that collect and organize mortgage payments on behalf of banks. (Many are actually subsidiaries of big financial-service companies, like J.P. Morgan Chase.) When a homeowner misses payments, the servicers are meant to carefully review their financial statements and to notify More…

Local, State and Federal Pressure to Stop Foreclosures

By | 10.06.10 | 4:51 pm

David Dayen reports some big news on the foreclosure fraud scandal:

[Richard Cordray, the Attorney General for the state of Ohio] has filed a lawsuit in Lucas County (Toledo) Common Pleas Court against GMAC Mortgage and their parent company Ally Financial, in a suit which names Jeffrey Stephan,

More…

Another Month, Another Lackluster HAMP Scorecard

By | 07.20.10 | 1:25 pm

Today, the Department of Housing and Urban Development released a new monthly scorecard on the Home Affordable Modification Program, or HAMP — the Obama administration’s signature effort to keep underwater and distressed homeowners in their homes.

The report is, well, not great. And the accompanying press release is More…

HUD and Treasury’s New Monthly Housing Scorecard Shows Continued HAMP Slowdown

By | 06.21.10 | 1:41 pm

Today, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Treasury Department unveiled a new monthly scorecard on the administration’s efforts to stabilize the national housing market, taking the place of the old monthly More…

House Bill Penalizes Strategic Defaulters

By | 06.18.10 | 5:39 pm

Last week, I noted that House Republicans had introduced a motion to penalize strategic defaulters — underwater homeowners who simply stop paying their mortgages and surrender their homes to the bank — by barring them from obtaining Federal Housing Administration-backed loans in the future. I hadn’t noticed until More…

HUD Report: Fewer Homeless People, More Homeless Families

By | 06.16.10 | 2:36 pm

Today, the Department of Housing and Urban Development released its annual report on homelessness in America. The report found that the number of homeless people declined slightly from 2008 to 2009, but that the Great Recession and housing crash have left more families with children homeless. All in all, More…

April HAMP Report Card Shows Modifications Rising

By | 05.17.10 | 3:40 pm

Today, the Treasury and Housing and Urban Development Departments released April data on the Home Affordable Modification Program, the Obama administration’s effort to modify mortgages in order to stem the tide of foreclosures and keep families in their homes. Modifications increased 13 percent month-to-month, to 300,000.

“As the number More…