• Lisa Simpson
• Mar 7,2010
• In: Foreclosure Crisis

The Foreclosure Crisis is Moving Along

The foreclosure crisis is moving along. Initially it was the sub-prime borrowers but now it is reaching out to catch the prime borrowers too. Against this scenario the lives of the poorest in USA continue to be devastated by the ongoing crisis. This group comprises of the tenants living in neighbourhoods where most of the residents come from the low income category.
The scene is very common – landlords fall into foreclosure and the tenants are pushed out onto the streets with hardly any prior notice. Tenants make up 40% of the households. They are at threat from evictions because of foreclosures according to some calculations.

Last year a federal law had been enacted to step up protection against tenant evictions. But despite this, real estate developers and the lenders are continuing to worry and illegally put pressure on the tenants to get the property vacated. Never before have the tenants coming from the weaker section of society, been in greater need of legal protection. Legalities are extremely complex and sans the help of lawyers a tenant will not know about rights and how to make these effective.

Brennan Centre has recently released a report – Foreclosures: A Crisis in Legal Representation. It has been stated that the presence of a lawyer can make a critical difference in the civil disputes. It increases by ten fold the chances of an individual to stay on in the house that is his or her home. The lawyer can pressurize lenders to follow rules and this may help the extension of the stay at least. However not all the tenants can hope for this solution even with the help of a lawyer but the latter can see that eviction is done in the proper manner. The lenders need to be badly checked in their autocratic method of functioning especially in relation to the vulnerable section of society.
Unfortunately there are very few lawyers available for the poor. The latter are failing to get legal help whether it is for saving their homes or getting custody of their children. Spouses are abused with impunity. Neither can they avail of government help that is meant for them. Nearly a million people are refused who are entitled to legal help from funds granted by the federal government. This is the “justice gap” in the country.
But help seems to be near. A legislation has recently been initiated that would give more teeth to the Legal Services Corporation. The latter is a federal entity that has the authority to distribute federal funds to local legal services that are non-profit and deal with civil matters.

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