I haven't seen anyone writing about this - so I will give it a try. It is confusing but the gist of the story is:
1. HUD, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac own a massive portfolio of foreclosed homes.
2. They need to decide what to do with these
3. They are probably going to bundle them together and sell them at a massive discount to private investor groups such as hedge funds and Goldman Sachs - the very people who created the crisis in the first place. This opens the door for massive corporate profit and little community benefit.
4. No individual will have access to these discounted sales.
5. Alternative scenarios could help alleviate some of the housing crisis. A final decision hasn't been made yet on what will happen. We need to be paying attention.
An RFI(request for information) was issued by the government Federal Housing and Finance Agency on August 10, 2011. This was a vehicle for soliciting ideas for how to dispose of these properties. This may be a good faith effort to open the dialogue, but is more likely a way to appear open while giving the government cover for this giveaway.
I am trying to find who responded to the RFI before the September 15 deadline. One response came from the CLPHA (Council of Large Public Housing Authorities). They propose making these properties available to the public housing authorities, the people who are responsible for providing housing for those who have suffered most from this debacle.
Another proposal comes from SwapRent, an organization that packages individual homes in a way that investors can invest in a property while keeping the owner in the home as a renter.
What does this mean? According to the RFI supplement, in July there were more than 92,000 homes covered by this RFI. Most of these are located in areas where there were the most foreclosures, and probably the most people lacking adequate housing at this time.
I would appreciate discussion from those who understand this better than I do. There is a vast potential for good if this were implemented to help those who need housing. If housing authorities bought these houses at a discount and then implemented rent-to-own programs, many people could move towards home ownership. If a nonprofit created affordable housing, rental would be possible for those now without homes. If the very corporations that created this crisis profit from it most, it will be another step in the end of the American dream.
This shouldn't happen without oversight and awareness. Please write to your congresspeople, and use your blogs and LTE's to bring it into the open.
Thank you.