From our friend Alejandro at the latimes.com:
About half of the $410 million flowing into California’s coffers from the national mortgage settlement with major banks will be pumped into the state’s housing counselors and legal services agencies that help struggling homeowners.
The funding is part of the plans disclosed Friday by state Atty. Gen. Kamala D. Harris for distributing the cash.
Harris, who helped negotiate the agreement with the nation’s five biggest banks, said she also plans to spend the rest of the money on reaching out to and educating homeowners stuck in the hardest-hit parts of the state; on further investigations and oversight of the settlement funds; and on helping borrowers who can’t stay in their homes.
“Homeowners who receive meaningful counseling are far more likely to avoid foreclosure,” said Shum Preston, a spokesman for Harris.
The cash the state received is part of $3.5 billion in total cash payments made to 49 states in the overall settlement with five of the nation’s biggest banks. The global settlement of accusations that the banks improperly or fraudulently foreclosed on homeowners provides $25 billion in aid to struggling borrowers.
“There are over half a million California households currently in the foreclosure pipeline, so we understand the importance of getting these funds into the communities where they’re needed and to the homeowners most affected by this crisis,” Preston said.
Community organizer Peggy Mears at the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment said funds need to go to African American and Latino families first because they were the hardest hit by the foreclosure crisis.
Mears said the money needed to go toward helping homeowners, not to filling the state’s budget deficit, as it has in other states.
“We need the highest levels of accountability for this money,” she said. “This settlement was for homeowners who were dealing with the foreclosure crisis.”
Housing counseling agencies across the U.S. have struggled in the face of the crisis, just as demand for their services has gone up.
The tough economy and a more competitive environment for nonprofits have hit counselors who provide foreclosure counseling, said Anna Lisa Biason, director of fund development for Neighborhood Housing Services of Orange County.
Read more here:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-0512-harris-housing-20120512,0,1990207.story
There shouldn’t even been any settlement to begin with. Was anyone who was actually MAKING their payments foreclosed upon in the Robosigning issue???
Why did we ever stray from what worked for the last 100 years…you miss 2 payments you get a NOD, you miss another 3 you get a NOT and you don’t cure it in the next 3 weeks your house get’s auctioned at the courthouse steps and you are evicted. End of story.
Why did we we ever have to f*** this process that worked for 100 yrs up so royally with all this Govn’t influenced horsesh*t of loan mod’s, principle reductions, and letting people squat in their houses for 3 yrs???
I love how the government spins all this garbage.
The government and banks do not care about the “stuggling borrowers” at all. They have a vested interest in keeping the housing market propped up. The mortgage payments keep the banks semi-solvent and the government gets their annual RE tax payment.
The debtors MUST remain debtors until they die. The whole system depends on it.
Moral hazard…
Its an election year, all politicking unfortunately.
“About half of the $410 million flowing into California’s coffers from the national mortgage settlement with major banks will be pumped into the state’s housing counselors and legal services agencies that help struggling homeowners.”
Shocking (sarcasm intended)…. 1/2 the money doesn’t even make it to the underwater home owners.
I wonder if they will see how many people default within a year even after the free money.
That’s a lot of Free Cheese for The Rats to get down in the gutter and compete for.
Who will be the Best Cheese Thief ?
Those with the most “Campaign Contributions”, Whoops, I mean Bribes and Payoffs…
What will foreclosure counseling do?
Counseler: You need to make your payments.
Borrower: The banks screwed me, gave me a dirty loan – payment is too high.
Counseler: OK, how about a loan modification?
Borrower: Tried that, got denied.
Counseler: Let’s try again, now that I’ve been paid millions maybe they will listen to me.
The insanity will continue as a group of counseled deadbeats will re-enter the loan mod waterfall for a second or third time, all while milking the free rent.
“About half of the $410 million flowing into California’s coffers from the national mortgage settlement with major banks will be pumped into the state’s housing counselors and legal services agencies that help struggling homeowners.”
Half!? Classic money laundering because you know there will be some very well compensated counselors at the most senior levels. Them and all the other “Consultants”.
counseling, LMAO. How about teaching these people some basic economic skills in high school. Instead most people will become prey to the banks.
I see that all of the usual suspects have their hands out for another gimmedat. I hope all of those agencies expecting a portion of the proceeds supported Kamala’s bid for AG.
Nothing to see here, move along.
@#9 avjoe, I say the same thing about welfare and food stamps. Why don’t we take some of that money and teach recipients how to budget and cook nutritious meals instead of increasing the amount they’re “paid” because some can’t stretch it out to last a month?
I’ve actually had this discussion with a case manager/social worker who insisted “we” needed to increase monthly benefits, she eventually admitted that some payees have money/stamps left over at the end of the month. Mostly immigrants interestingly enough, I guess they learned how to cook and budget before leaving their home countries for the US.