Consider the problem of foreclosures, which are on track to top last year’s number of almost 90,000. Yet, the Senate is sitting on its hands, refusing to entertain legislation from the Democratic-controlled Ohio House of Representatives that would:
• impose a six-month moratorium on foreclosures;
• regulate the servicers that can make it possible (or impossible) for borrowers to renegotiate the terms of their loans;
• raise the filing fee for foreclosures;
• give reasonable notice to renters living in foreclosed properties that they’re going to have to leave.
Democrats are desperate to get agreement on giving homeowners help. They’ve said they’ll give up on a moratorium; they think an increase in the $500 foreclosure fee is necessary to pay for the counseling that could help people avoid foreclosure, but they know they’ll have to ratchet down their expectations.
Surely, though, the two sides ought to be able to come together on the need to regulate servicers. Under the law, servicers have every financial incentive to foreclose rather than work with borrowers — even when it’s in the interest of lenders, not just homeowners, to waive crushing late fees and penalties or to reduce a loan’s interest rate.
(Servicers send your mortgage payment to the investor that owns your loan. If you don’t pay, the servicer still has to make your payment. However, if the servicer forecloses on your house, he doesn’t owe and can start charging for work associated with that process.)
Meanwhile, Sen. Shannon Jones, of Springboro, recently came to the Senate from the House where she, a Republican, and the Democrats heard compelling testimony about the value of mediation in foreclosure cases. She was impressed enough that she wants to require that borrowers and lenders at least take a stab at trying to work out a manageable payment plan as part of foreclosure proceedings. She is faring no better in getting any support for her proposal than the Democrats are for their ideas.
If President Harris were really engaged, if he weren’t letting the people who want to succeed him try to fill the power vacuum, something could get done.
There’s no question that Republicans and Democrats have sincere philosophical disagreements about how much government can and should do to stem the foreclosure crisis. But their disagreements shouldn’t be an excuse to do nothing when people are losing their homes not because they can’t pay toward their mortgage, but because they can’t find someone to negotiate with about a payment plan.
Considering that lenders are overwhelmed by foreclosed properties and are the first to tell you that they don’t want to own or keep up the real estate, doesn’t someone have a responsibility to inject sanity into the situation? That’s a role government can properly play.
If you want to get philosophical, the foreclosure epidemic is a “wealth destroying” economic phenomenon. Families and lenders, neighborhoods and the economy generally, are being dragged down because the foreclosures just keep coming. Some could be prevented if Ohio’s political leaders would come together. As president of the Senate, Sen. Harris could insist that there are things Republicans and Democrats can agree on.
In politics especially, you’re remembered for the last thing you do. Sen. Harris has quit too soon.
— Cox News Service