Ordinance Enforcing Lenders To Take Responsibility Of Vacant Foreclosed Houses
April 28th, 2008
It is one big step in the right direction – the City Council in Watsonville has passed an ordinance enforcing lenders to take responsibility of vacant houses. The city fathers can do nothing about foreclosures but it is a big step to force the lenders to step up maintenance efforts of houses left vacant by foreclosures.
Abandoned houses dotted all over the country have been causing health and safety concerns. Nobody wants to take the responsibility of the orphans while malaria and crime spreads. The ordinance gives some teeth to the neighbours to do some policing themselves, says John Doughty the Community Development Officer. The ordinance requires the lenders to put up a sign on the property notifying who is responsible for the maintenance of the unit. The ordinance will also require the managers of the estates to see to it that the abandoned houses and repo homes do not become a nuisance in the locality by observing the rules of the neighbourhood. The cost of the operation will be covered by the registration fees. It will make it possible for the city to oversee and supervise the matter.
During the first week of February 120 houses slipped into foreclosures in Santa Cruz County according to Watsonville Law Center. The latter is a non-profit body that gives free legal help to those in the low income group. Of the 120 properties, 44 were in Watsonville. The community development section of the city estimates that currently 742 houses are in the danger zone sitting in various foreclosure stages. Doughty is optimistic that the ordinance will make the lenders more accountable to the locality. The responsibility will now fall on the banks – those mainly responsible for these shaky contracts.
Although the ordinance won unanimous support not everyone in the City Council was happy about the priorities being given to the broader housing issue. There are suggestions of building a housing growth area in the suburbs. About 600 houses will be built. This raises the question of further glutting the satiated housing market with more units. But Doughty explained that the mortgage crisis is distinct from the occasional predatory lending problems. However the housing development in the suburbs will not take off till 2010. The approach takes into its view long term planning. In tackling the foreclosure problem the city is also hosting a workshop for buying houses for the low and middle income group. Also steps are also being taken to make the people more financially aware.
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