Mortgage Giant Fannie Mae Accused of Racial Discrimination
in 38 U.S. Metro Areas
National Fair Housing Alliance and 20 Civil Rights Groups
File Federal Lawsuit Over Neglected Foreclosures
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) and 20 local fair housing organizations from across the United States filed a housing discrimination lawsuit against Fannie Mae in federal district court in San Francisco, California. The lawsuit alleges that Fannie Mae purposely fails to maintain its foreclosures (also known as real estate owned or “REO” properties) in middle- and working-class African American and Latino neighborhoods to the same level of quality it does for foreclosures it owns in white middle- and working-class neighborhoods. The data supporting the federal lawsuit, which includes substantial photographic evidence, shows a stark pattern of discriminatory conduct by Fannie Mae in the maintenance of its foreclosures.
The lawsuit is the result of a multi-year investigation. During the past several years, NFHA notified Fannie Mae many times of its failure to maintain and market its foreclosed homes in communities of color to the same standard to which it was maintaining and marketing the foreclosed homes it owned in similar, predominantly white neighborhoods. In spite of numerous meetings between NFHA and Fannie Mae to address these disparities in maintenance and marketing, Fannie Mae persisted in its willful neglect of its properties in African American and Latino neighborhoods.
The initial investigation was undertaken by NFHA and two local fair housing organizations in 2009 and involved four metropolitan areas. Much of this evidence was shared with Fannie Mae. However, Fannie Mae failed to make changes to ensure equal treatment in the maintenance and marketing of its foreclosures in neighborhoods of color, and the investigation was expanded to include an additional 18 fair housing organizations, culminating in data from 212 cities in 38 metropolitan areas. Click to see the lists of regions and fair housing organizations.
Comprised of evidence from 2011 through 2015, the lawsuit contains information from more than 2,300 foreclosures owned and maintained by Fannie Mae. NFHA and its 20 partner fair housing organizations collected evidence at each property on over 35 data points that were identified as important to protecting, securing, and marketing the homes. Investigators also took and reviewed over 49,000 photographs of these foreclosures that document the differences in treatment.
COMING TO YOU LIVE DIRECTLY FROM THE DUBIN LAW OFFICES AT HARBOR COURT, DOWNTOWN HONOLULU, HAWAII
LISTEN TO KHVH-AM (830 ON THE AM RADIO DIAL)
ALSO AVAILABLE ON KHVH-AM ON THE iHEART APP ON THE INTERNET
.
.
Sunday – December 4, 2016
Foreclosure Workshop #24: Foreclosure Workshop #24: Tehiva v. Ocwen — A Revealing Case Study in Abusive Loan Servicing, Why Federal and State Regulation Continues To Fail, and What the Trump Administration Can and Should Immediately Do About It
This Sunday we will present the most definitive up-to-date analysis yet available concerning recent investigative breakthroughs in the scientific basis for successfully disputing in court the authenticity of promissory notes and related endorsements and allonges.
Judges are especially welcome to listen to the show.
Those who miss this important live broadcast can listen to it on the Past Broadcast Section of our Website at www.foreclosurehour.com shortly after it airs live on KHVH-AM News Radio in Honolulu and simultaneously throughout the United States on the iHeart Internet App.
Steve Mnuchin was once CEO of OneWest bank, which has been accused of lending dubious mortgages to the elderly and evicting thousands in the state
The Guardian-
Lights flashing, three police cars showed up to Bill Montes-Pack’s quiet suburban street on the morning of 15 December 2015. The Benicia, California, man had stayed up all night waiting for the sheriff’s office to evict him from the house his grandparents had owned since 1971.
The foreclosure – which he said was based on a predatory loan and improper paperwork – originated with lender OneWest Bank, at the time run by chairman and CEO Steven Mnuchin. The veteran Wall Street financier’s foreclosure practices are receiving fresh scrutiny this week after president-elect Donald Trump announced him as the nominee for US Treasury secretary.
While most federal agencies will soon see a change in leadership and direction after President-elect Donald Trump takes office, the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is supposed to be shielded from such sudden changes. A recent court decision put that protection — and the future of the CFPB itself — in question, but today a group of 21 federal lawmakers, along with a coalition of consumer advocates and civil rights groups, asked the court to keep the CFPB’s structure intact.
A quick round of catch-up for those coming in late: The CFPB has only one director — currently Richard Cordray, who still has a few years left on his term — and under the law that created the Bureau, the CFPB Director can only be removed from office by the President “for cause,” meaning the Director would need to screw up really badly.
In most cases where a federal agency has only one director, the President has the authority to remove that director at will. On the other side of the coin are the agencies with multiple commissioners (and usually a chairperson) who can’t be easily removed by the President, but where no single commissioner’s vote counts more than the others.
Recent Comments