Homeowners in La Quinta and across California will be getting help soon, as approx. half of the $410 million coming to the state from the overall settlement with the nation’s five biggest banks (due to accusations that they improperly or fraudently foreclosed on homewoners) has flowed into its coffers.
State Atty. General Kamala D. Harris disclosed on Friday that this money will be put into funding the state’s housing counselors and legal service agencies that help struggling homeowners. 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 aren’t able to stay in their homes.
Over half a million California households are currently in the foreclosure pipeline. State authorities say they realize the importance of getting funding into those communities where they are needed and assisting the homeowners who were most affected by the crisis.
Community organizers have voiced that the money needs to go towards helping homeowners and not to help lower the state’s budget deficit, as has happened in other states. They state that the settlement was intending for homeowners who are dealing with the foreclosure crisis. Many housing counseling agencies across the country are struggling as the demand for their services has gone up. This financial boost could be the shot in the arm that is needed to bring homeowners back into good stead in California.
My question is, what about all the homeowners who have already lost their homes, how does this help them? Couldn’t anything be done to help them to get back into home ownership again? I know people in La Quinta and elsewhere… I’m sure you do too… who were caught in the timing of this foreclosure crisis such that they lost their homes, are now having to rent and have ruined credit. What is being done to help them to get back into the home ownership saddle, so to speak???