"Narratives" Week #2: HSD
"We were giving people false hope," Cardoza said. -- Rep. Dennis Cardoza, Pimlico Kid-Merced/Annapolis
Nobody was a more vocal booster for those false hopes out front and more engaged in backroom deals to benefit the real estate boom in the north San Joaquin Valley than Dennis Cardoza. He was of the little yapping Senorcito UC Merceds in the state Legislature and in Congress the author of three unsuccessful bills to gut the Endangered Species Act for the benefit of a handful of finance, insurance and real estate special interests in his district during the speculative real estate boom that has busted, catching tens of thousands of people in his district, who are now upside-down on their mortgages. Cardoza, his family and his social circle all benefitted from the speculation.
Since the real estate boom collapsed, Cardoza's public utterances have grown increasingly absurd. His attack on Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan is just one more example of his continual attempts to avoid the consequences of using his office to line his and his cronies' pockets.
Cardoza seems to think that HUD should be renamed HSD, Housing and Slurb Development.
Badlands Journal editorial board
8-22-10
Modesto Bee
San Joaquin Valley feels left behind...J.N. Sbranti jsbranti@modbee.com and Michael Doyle mdoyle@mcclatchydc.com
http://www.modbee.com/2010/08/22/v-print/1304518/san-joaquin-valley-feels-left.html
San Joaquin Valley lawmakers and homeowners still feel left out of the Obama administration's billion-dollar bids to ease the nation's foreclosure crisis.
The latest homeowner assistance program, unveiled with great fanfare, will spread $3 billion nationwide. But while California can expect at least $476 million of the total, the valley's share remains both ambiguous and a source of heartburn.
"I would call it a drop in the bucket, but it's probably less than that," said Rep. Dennis Cardoza, D-Merced.
Cardoza represents three cities -- Stockton, Modesto and Merced -- whose foreclosure rates consistently rank among the nation's highest. Add in Fresno and some smaller communities such as Los Banos, and the San Joaquin valley earns its title as ground zero for the housing bubble's bursting.
To help, Congress and the administration have opened up Uncle Sam's checkbook.
Most recently, the Treasury Department announced it will provide $2 billion nationwide for unemployed homeowners who need assistance paying their mortgage. The Department of Housing and Urban Development will provide an additional $1 billion in zero-interest loans for homeowners behind on their mortgage payments.
The latest programs follow others whose focus and efficacy skeptics question.
"Doing this is better than nothing," Cardoza said, "but I have not been impressed by the way HUD manages their programs. Their track record has not been
impressive."
A recurring complaint is that the Northern San Joaquin Valley simply isn't getting its share.
Last year, the Neighborhood Stabilization Program provided $17 million to Fresno and Fresno County and $16 million to Modesto and Stanislaus County for the purchase of foreclosed, abandoned homes.
Merced, despite its comparably serious foreclosure problem, was not deemed eligible for one of the initial grants; eventually, Merced and Mer- ced County received $5 million distributed by the state.
No one yet knows exactly how the new assistance funds will be divvied up among local communities.
The new $1 billion HUD program will provide loans of up to $50,000 for homeowners who are at least three months delinquent in their mortgage payments. Officials announced Aug. 11 that the loans will assist those in "hard hit" areas, but they haven't yet defined "hard hit" nor decided specifically where the money will go.
"We're still determining how to target those funds," HUD spokesman Brian Sullivan said Thursday, adding that "we don't want to raise expectations about where those funds will be (spent)." The $2 billion Treasury program announced Aug. 11 expands an existing "Hardest Hit Fund." This will include $476 million for the California Housing Finance Agency, which has designed several mortgage assistance programs that can provide up to $50,000 for low- and moderate- income households.
Programs not ready until Nov. 1
The California assistance could range from mortgage payment subsidies to paying off delinquent loans. State officials, though, caution that the final programs won't be ready until Nov. 1.
Fresno's Martha Lucey, who runs ClearPoint Credit Counseling Solutions, said she hopes these newest offerings prove more effective than their predecessors.
"We have not seen the success needle move," said Lucey, whose agency helps troubled homeowners throughout the Northern San Joaquin Valley.
While Lucey acknowledged "a few thousand dollars can help a household stop a foreclosure," she stressed that any government aid will only prove temporary so long as homeowners are unemployed.
"It's all about jobs," Lucey said.
Atwater homeowner Renee Jones said she has been frustrated by federal mortgage assistance programs.
"The Making Home Affordable Web site is absolutely useless," said Jones, who struggles to afford her 53-year-old Atwater home. "Most of the programs there I don't qualify for." Jones recently convinced her lender to modify her mortgage.
But while that deal lowered her interest rate, it didn't reduce what she owes and it added past-due payments to her total debt.
Jones now owes $227,000 for her home, which Merced County's assessor says is worth about $70,000. She wonders why she shouldn't just default and move on.
"It's going to be 10 to 15 years before I have one cent in equity," Jones lamented. "To me it doesn't make sense to keep feeding and watering a dead horse."
Such "strategic defaults" are starting to proliferate in the valley, Cardoza said. They are adding to the already complicated problem, which is difficult to measure.
Cardoza estimated nearly 30 percent of homeowners in his congressional district have lost their homes because they were foreclosed on, forced into "short sales" or voluntarily vacated in lieu of foreclosure.
Recently released Stanislaus County statistics show about 21,000 homes have been foreclosed since 2006, which is 12 percent to 15 percent of all homes, depending which housing unit estimates are used.
Cardoza says his staff still receives about 10 calls a week from people seeking mortgage help. Some of them are sobbing, but the congressman said his staff can't offer too much optimism about potential federal aid.
"We were giving people false hope," Cardoza said.
Firedog Lake
Cardoza Hammering HUD Secretary Donovan Over Travel Budget, Foreclosure Failure ... David Dayen ... 7-29-10
http://news.firedoglake.com/2010/07/29/cardoza-hammering-hud-secretary-donovan-over-travel-budget-foreclosure-failure/
As I understand it, the Treasury Department controls the HAMP program and most of the other foreclosure mitigation strategies, so it seems to me that Rep. Dennis Cardoza (D-CA) is taking the wrong hostage. But at least he’s seeking real action:
The House will vote Thursday on a measure to strip the travel budget of President Obama’s housing secretary.
The measure is sponsored by Rep. Dennis Cardoza (D-Calif.), who weeks ago called for Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan’s resignation over what he and other California members believe has been the administration’s subpar response to the housing and foreclosure crisis that has crippled the state’s housing market [...]
Donovan will meet Thursday morning with Cardoza and other members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, where he was expected to receive a verbal berating by Democrats representing districts with disproportionately high home foreclosure rates.
Cardoza’s bill is one of 24 amendments to the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill the House will consider Thursday.
Cardoza is on the House Rules Committee, so was able to get his travel budget-stripping amendment a vote.
Here’s the backstory. Cardoza, a moderate Dem, is in a district (CA-18) in the Central Valley of California with as bad a foreclosure problem as any in the country. In addition, he’s facing a somewhat difficult re-election battle against Mike Berryhill, who comes from a family of Republican politicians in the area. Berryhill’s fundraising has been terrible, as you can see, but Cardoza might be looking at the ravages of his district and feeling the hear a little. So he picks on Shaun Donovan.
But while Donovan may not be the ideal target for this ire, Cardoza is justified in his anger. He has seen the Obama Administration do almost nothing for the people in his district facing foreclosure, and a trip by the HUD Secretary to Rio de Janiero provided the opportunity to grandstand. This isn’t really about HUD’s travel budget, it’s about Administration inaction on foreclosures:
Cardoza is so angry that he is pushing legislation that would restrict the travel of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan. As Cardoza put it in a telephone interview with The Bee, his intention is for Donovan and his aides to “keep their sorry asses in Washington until they fix the problem.” They do not understand the depth of the problem, Cardoza said [...]
Cardoza also said in The Bee interview that the Obama administration is too cozy with the banks that hold most of the underwater mortgages. The officials working on the foreclosure problem came from Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Cardoza said. They have a conflict of interest and are protecting their old employers instead of looking out for the interests of homeowners.
“The lack of action on foreclosures and the president not coming to district, which he had promised to do, have me pretty fired up,” Cardoza said.
Cardoza’s travel-ban amendments have the support of Reps. Jim Costa, Doris Matsui, Mike Thompson, Lynn Woolsey, Anna Eshoo and Jerry McNerney, all of California, and Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Ohio.
Donovan has replied with RealtyTrac statistics showing that foreclosures have declined in Merced, Modesto and Stockton, three of the hardest-hit cities in Cardoza’s district, by up to 25% year-over-year. Cardoza replied:
Cardoza finds it infuriating that the administration would cite that data, saying that the reason there are fewer foreclosures is because so many have already lost their homes. Meanwhile, he says, the 90-day delinquency rates on mortgage payments in his district have gone up.
“It’s offensive and that’s why I’m cutting their travel budget, because they don’t get it. Or if they do, it’s a charade, they’re trying to pull one over on our constituents,” Cardoza told POLITICO. “I’m just appalled. I’m just appalled.”
The Administration is on less tenable ground over foreclosures with each passing day and each horror story about the failures of HAMP. Donovan’s travel budget may be caught in the crossfire. But maybe it’ll get someone’s attention.
Fresno Bee
Cardoza gets angrier at White House over lack of action on foreclosure crisis...Jim Boren...7-29-10
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/2010/07/29/v-print/1511449/fresno-bee-cardoza-gets-more-angry.html
Rep. Dennis Cardoza, D-Merced, isn't making many friends at the White House these days.
The conservative Democrat has become increasingly angry over the lack of action on the home foreclosure crisis.
Cardoza's district has some of the highest home foreclosure rates in the nation, and he says the administration's plans aren't helping his constituents who are about to lose their homes.
The home foreclosure response by the administration is similar to its response to the Gulf oil spill: Too little, too late, too many excuses. Seems like there's a pattern here.
Cardoza is so angry that he has pushed legislation that would restrict the travel of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan.
As Cardoza put it in a telephone interview, his intention is for Donovan and his aides to "keep their sorry asses in Washington until they fix the problem."
As first reported in Roll Call, Cardoza's amendment would wipe out HUD's $21 million travel budget. He also would prohibit HUD funding for administration and operations to be used for travel.
(The legislation is now part an amendment to the appropriations bill that must be considered to fund the Department of Transportation and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.)
It's a symbolic measure, but is intended to make a point to the administration that Democratic members are upset over the lack of progress on a foreclosure fix.
Administration officials need to "quit pretending that their programs are going to work," Cardoza said in the interview.
Cardoza also suggested that the Obama administration is too cozy with the banks holding most of the mortgages.
The officials working on the foreclosure problem came from Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Cardoza said. They have a conflict of interest and are protecting their old employers instead of looking out for the interests of homeowners.
"The lack of action on foreclosures and the president not coming to district, which he had promised, have me pretty fired up," Cardoza said.
Cardoza Introduces Amendment to Cut HUD Secretary of Travel Funding...Congressman Cardoza's Channel...Congressman Dennis Cardoza, Representing the 18th District of California...YouTube...7-29-10
http://www.youtube.com/congressmancardoza
Legislation to eliminate the HUD Secretary's travel budget was introduced by Congressman Cardoza in response to the failed handling of the foreclosure crisis. The amendment will be considered as part of the 2011 Fiscal Year appropriations bill for the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Department of Transportation.