From U.S. Senator Chris Murphy:
On Monday U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) will visit the Housing Development Fund in Bridgeport to call for action to reduce the number of underwater mortgages throughout the city. In a recent study, Bridgeport was ranked tenth in a list of U.S. cities with the highest percentage of underwater mortgages. Homeowners that have underwater mortgages are more likely to default on their payments, setting them up for future financial hardship and stagnating the city’s economic recovery from the Great Recession.
During tomorrow’s event, Murphy will meet with Housing Development Fund clients to discuss their struggles to pay their mortgage, as well as Joan Carty, President and CEO of the Housing Development Fund.
Recently, Murphy called on the Senate Banking Committee to explore implementing robust principal reduction programs as it works towards restructuring the secondary housing market. He also urged the Senate Finance Committee to ensure that the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act remains a component of any tax extenders package that is ultimately signed into law.
WHAT:
Murphy to call for action on Bridgeport underwater mortgagesWHEN:
Monday, May 19th at 11:00amWHERE:
Housing Development Fund
940 Broad Street
Bridgeport, ConnecticutWHO:
U.S. Senator Chris Murphy
Joan Carty, President and CEO of Housing Development Fund
“… to explore implementing robust principal reduction programs …”
How about reducing the property taxes and Water Pollution bill?
Underwater mortgages? People losing their houses? In Bpt? This can’t be, Finch says the city is on the upswing, and we are turning the corner. Maybe if the admins raises taxes more and give more senseless high-paying jobs to supporters, it would help us.
Maybe Mr. Murphy should make his first stop at the Mayor’s office, let him know raising taxes on 42% of the homeowners who are underwater sucks, and let the dumb fluck read the Haas report, like he really gives a shit!
The Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society at the University of California at Berkeley has ranked Bridgeport 10th on its list of cities contending with a flood of “underwater” mortgages.
Forty-two percent of mortgages held for homes in the state’s largest city are underwater.
Is it 2015 yet?
Wouldn’t Bpt make a good location for a pilot program to aid underwater homeowners? We have a lot of them. Fannie and Freddie are being abolished. Maybe Murphy has a way to cushion the blow.
I did not get to read the original article showing Bridgeport as #10 across the US with (per capita, I assume) underwater mortgages. But with Hartford listed as #1 it is reasonable for the Senator to stake out a position.
Who are these homeowners? The articles appear quiet on the subject. Are they individuals who purchased single-family homes recently with poor understanding of the financing packages? Were they purchasers of a property to live in that also had income-producing units that could assist them through troubled times (or maybe add to them)? Were they owners/purchasers of residential property for commercial purposes? Can you tell?
Of course a revaluation in 2013 would have smoked out pretty quickly the nature of ownership to the community at large and indicate how resistant some neighborhoods have been to recover from the most recent serious decrease in residential values. I wonder if Senator Murphy has a few words about postponing revaluations (after spending 80% of the money allocated for that service) and the only greeting you receive from City administration apologists is an insult that we are not capable of reading/understanding/dealing with such data???
Whatever data was provided to the City should be available to the taxpayers at this moment. Mayor Bill has arranged this two-year breathing spell allowing him to run on his record without new valuations going into effect. And Tom Sherwood has once again prevailed with the info he released and the stories he continues to provide to get an unnecessary tax increase once again this year. Who really cares about the annual charade? Time will tell.
Inch by inch, the Feds will get Sherwood and Finch.
Senator Murphy should come down my street where there are four vacant houses that have been foreclosed. Typical Bridgeport where politicians show up to view the damage they or their predecessors have caused.