Foreclosure Workshops To Tackle Problem

February 12th, 2008 | Tags: Foreclosure

On 14^th February the East Bay Economic Development Alliance is scheduled to hold a workshop to see what actions local administration can take to protect families from losing their houses to foreclosures. It will take place from 2 pm to 3.3.0 pm on the 19^th floor of Wendel Rosen Black & Dean LLP’s Conference Hall at 1111 Broadway. The moderator will be Jim Jakel, the manager of Antioch city. The panelists will be Preston DuFauchard, the commissioner of California Department of Corporations Dr. Cynthia Scroll, Senior Regional Economist of Fisher School at Berekely and Carole Watson, Chief Investment Officer of United Way of Bary Area and East Bay EDA Executive Committee member. DuFauchard has been directly involved with financial groups that are trying to sort out the foreclosure crisis. Various issues relating to communities and federal government working in tandem with stage authorities will be probed and discussed. The EDA will release its first hand finings of a survey it has conducted with Conta Costa Council relating to foreclosures and its effects on the localities.

East Bay has been one of the worst localities hit by foreclosures. Oakland ranks 10^th on the national list while other cities of East Bay like Antioch and Brentwood are registering increases in foreclosure listings.

With variations from one region to another the entire country is in the grip of foreclosures. The accusing finger points to the peddling of sub-prime mortgage to gullible borrowers. This led to a temporary boom of the housing industry. Everybody started owning houses and prices ballooned. But soon the balloon got pricked when the initial teaser rates of the mortgage began to double or treble. The borrowers found it impossible to be current. They defaulted, became delinquents and lenders began to foreclose. But when the number of foreclosures began to rise to millions the lenders too became alarmed. They had taken on more houses than they could digest. Meanwhile money flow from monthly payments dried up. Abandoned houses attracted criminals. The prices of neighbouring houses began to plummet. The local administration found it impossible to keep up with maintenance of law and order. Revenues and taxes fell. A disgruntled lot of people evicted from homes made politicians wake up to the dangers of vote banks. Meanwhile stocks fell right across the globe sending alarming bells ringing. The entire socio-economic structure began to wobble.