The battle for Massachusetts citizens’ homes is far from over. The years 2008 and 2009 saw more than 52,000 mortgages enter foreclosure, and things are still a far way off from getting better yet. Thousands more households are in the process of being broken up, communities are being ravaged as I write, and many Americans are still staring irreversible financial disaster in the eye.
The situation is made even worse by the broader social implications – neighborhoods are pock-faced by derelict, abandoned homes, crime is up, and property values are down. Foreclosures are also depressing the American economy further, and preventing recovery.
According to Warren Group, whose business is knowing about these things, Massachusetts foreclosures jumped 21.6% last month compared to March last year. Media and public opinion have been distracted by the fact that March 2009 was a structurally unusual time, but the harsh reality is that the problem is far from fixed.
But this is not to say that some Massachusetts legislators are not working away at it. The Senate’s Joint Committee on Housing recently reported favorably on draft Bill Nr.1379, which is aimed a preventing unfair eviction of tenants whose rentals are up to date, but are unfortunate enough to have their homes foreclosed from out of under them.
This horribly unfair situation is especially uncommon in urban neighborhoods with multiple-family homes – hopefully the days of unfair evictions by foreclosing banks will come to an end soon. This would help preserve thousands of decent, hard-working family units across the State, and hopefully the Legislature will support it too.
But this alone is not enough. Suffolk South End Representative Sonia Chang-Diaz is currently working on two further pieces of legislation. One, provisionally entitled An Act Relative to Judicial Foreclosure, seeks to bind the State of Massachusetts to 29 other American States that already require judicial approval of foreclosures. The second, An Act Protecting Homeowners Facing Foreclosure, will put formal procedures in place to add further protection to threatened households.
Hopefully efforts like these will restore some sense of balance to the Massachusetts property market, and help keep the families together that are the heart of America. But this is not to say that the banks and other lenders are not fighting back – indications are that this could be a long and messy battle.
Are Sonia Chang-Diaz’s proposals the kind of solutions that are required in the State of Massachusetts today? Or are they just pussy-footing around the real problem of irresponsible borrowers?
Notice: In accordance with FTC guidelines, we state that RealEstateProArticles.com has financial relationships with some companies and may be compensated if consumers choose to buy, subscribe or take any action to a product or service via the links on our website. Occasionally, we receive free access to review a product or service. We do not accept compensation in exchange for a positive review. These reviews are strictly the opinions of the author.
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.realestateproarticles.com/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites