Bachmann’s district has Minnesota’s highest foreclosure rates
Monday, April 06, 2009 at 10:33 am
- 36 Comments
Source: Housing Link 2008 foreclosure report
Foreclosures have hit Minnesota’s economy hard, leading to a debate among policymakers over how best to provide relief to the state’s families.
But a Minnesota Independent analysis of foreclosure data from across the state reveals that the crisis is worst where congressional representation is doing the least to address the issue.
Foreclosure rates were calculated using data from Housing Link, a non-partisan Minneapolis-based housing nonprofit, along with county sheriffs’ sale records and estimated numbers of households in 2007 from the state demographer’s office. Congressional district rates were determined using city- and township-level data where boundaries did not follow county lines. The calculations used are the same as those spelled out in the state statute for determining foreclosure rates.
The data show that the northern suburbs and exurbs of the Twin Cities have seen the bulk of the foreclosures in 2008, and the southern suburbs have experienced a high number as well.
While much of the crisis is centralized in an area covering two congressional districts, a search of the congressional record reveals that the representatives in those districts are dealing with the crisis very differently. Rep. Michele Bachmann has voted against all but one measure aimed at foreclosure relief, while Rep. Keith Ellison in the neighboring district has supported or introduced more than a dozen bills to address the issue.
Trouble in the Sixth
Just to the north of the Twin Cities, the 6th district, represented by Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann, had the most foreclosures of any of Minnesota’s eight congressional districts, with an estimated 5,227 in 2008. Her district also had the highest rate of foreclosures as a percentage of households, at 1.80 percent, nearly that of the city of Minneapolis at 1.85 percent.
The situation was similar in 2007, when, according to a Housing Link study, Bachmann’s district had a higher foreclosure rate than the rest of Minnesota and the rest of the country.
But Bachmann’s record in Congress is not one of a representative whose district faces such a crisis. Bachmann hasn’t authored or sponsored any legislation to assist homeowners facing foreclosure, but she has co-sponsored 14 bills to restrict abortions and five to promote Christianity in government.
Bachmann voted against five key foreclosure relief bills, including the Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act, which would set standards for mortgages and reduce predatory lending, and the Neighborhood Stabilization Act, which would provide funds for buying and rehabilitating foreclosed properties in affected neighborhoods. She also opposed the Expanding American Homeownership Act, which allows more people to qualify for FHA-backed mortgages, and the Expand and Preserve Home Ownership Through Counseling Act, which aims to improve financial literacy. Bachmann additionally voted against the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, a law signed by President Bush that contained many provisions to assist struggling homeowners and also the only one of the bills to become law.
Before the first four of these measures reached the House floor, Bachmann opposed them in the House Financial Services Committee. She also voted against the FHA Housing Stabilization and Homeownership Rentention Act of 2008, which did not receive a floor vote. The bill would have provided mortgage refinancing assistance to struggling families and expanded FHA loan programs.
Bachmann further offered an amendment to block increased funding for HOPE for Homeowners, a Department of Housing and Urban Development program that helps families facing foreclosure to refinance their mortgages.
When Congress was debating strategies to assist families facing foreclosure, Bachmann called those homeowners “irresponsible.”
“Now, we can debate whether this is the right thing to do as it may seem that you’re rewarding the irresponsible while punishing those who have been playing by the rules,” she said in Febraury. “When President Obama released his plan … to prevent home foreclosures, the point he wanted to get across to everyone watching was that money from folks who have been making their payments on time will not just be handed over to those folks who got in over their heads and bought a house they knew they couldn’t afford.”
Those homes that residents of the 6th district couldn’t afford had a median value of $239,000, according to the 2007 American Community Survey, just above the national median of $229,000. Prices have likely declined considerably since the 2007 survey.
Bachmann’s office did not respond to a request for comment on the foreclosure data or her voting record.
Different tactics in Minneapolis
While foreclosure rates are nearly as high in the neighboring 5th Congressional District, Democratic Rep. Keith Ellison has been working to address the crisis.
The 5th district, encompassing Minneapolis and its surrounding suburbs, has the second-highest foreclosure rate in the state, with an estimated 4,413 foreclosures in 2008 at a rate of 1.63 percent.
Ellison’s efforts to address the foreclosure crisis have been noticed on a national scale.
He authored a bill that gives renters 90 days notice when a housing unit goes into foreclosure and allow them to finish their lease.
“I think it’s in the best interest of the banks to keep people in these [housing] units,” Ellison told the Independent. “These empty buildings create nuisances for crime, they get vandalized. While they sit empty, people come in and steal copper piping and it creates a risk for fire.”
The New York Times editorial board hailed Ellison’s bill. “This legislation would be good for renting families, which have been unfairly penalized by this crisis,” wrote the Times. “It would also help to stabilize heavily foreclosed neighborhoods by keeping buildings occupied and alive in areas that might otherwise become ghost towns.”
In the last session, Ellison authored the Fairness for Homeowners Act, which would add new regulations to mortgage lenders such as verifying a borrower’s ability to pay and eliminating pre-payment penalties. Last Tuesday he and Sen. Amy Klobuchar reintroduced that bill.
“Throughout all this, we still haven’t passed anti-predatory lending legislation,” Ellison said. “We need to get some actual regulation. The industry keeps saying that anti-predatory lending has dried up, but there is still a lot of it out there.”
Ellison said he’s introduced the bill every session, and others have offered it before he got to Congress, but still Congress fails to act on the bill.
Ellison is also a co-sponsor of 12 other bills aimed at providing relief to individuals and communities impacted by the foreclosure crisis. His voting record in Congress on housing is virtually the opposite of Bachmann’s.
Bachmann and Ellison both sit on the Financial Services Committee. Ellison voted for all five of the foreclosure-related committee bills that Bachmann voted against, and the same was true of the five floor votes on foreclosure legislation.
But the two did vote together on one House resolution that directs the government to protect “buyers from unscrupulous mortgage brokers and lenders.”
That resolution says that government should establish minimum standards for lenders, increase opportunities for homeowner counseling and strengthen lender evaluations of a borrower’s ability to repay a mortgage.
Bills were offered to address each of those needs identified by the resolution, but Bachmann voted against them.
Ellison says that Congress needs to do more for homeowners, and for the middle class in general, than it’s currently doing.
“How can we sit by and act like we don’t care? A home is a big deal,” he said. “The largest asset that people own is their home.”
Follow Andy Birkey on Twitter36 Comments
Comment posted April 6, 2009 @ 12:20 pm
It would seem the dreadful treatment of renters is a no-brainer. People paid up on their rent and in compliance with their leases get thrown out with literally no more notice than the deputy showing up at the door to tell them to get out that moment, and there’s been shockingly little interest in addressing this. Good for Ellison, and shame on anyone who defends this.
Pingback posted April 6, 2009 @ 2:19 pm
[...] The Minnesota Independent, TWI’s sister site, Andy Birkey points out an odd discrepancy between state foreclosure rates and the priorities of lawmakers who represent the various [...]
Pingback posted April 6, 2009 @ 3:36 pm
[...] the constituents in Michelle Bachmann’s district are suffering from the mortgage default crisi…. Yes, that’s right. Michelle Bachmann would rather go on radio or television and spout the [...]
Pingback posted April 6, 2009 @ 4:53 pm
[...] — forcing an increasing number to face the foreclosure of their homes. According to a report from the Minnesota Independent, the largest number of foreclosures last year took place in the Sixth Congressional District. [...]
Pingback posted April 6, 2009 @ 4:56 pm
[...] Rates, But She’s Worried About Re-Education Camps 6 Apr 2009 Author: Jack Turner via minnesotaindependent.com While much of the crisis is centralized in an area covering two congressional districts, a search [...]
Comment posted April 6, 2009 @ 5:00 pm
This woman and her draconian idealism has definitely made headlines around the World. Watch out Republicans, she might be your Party Face in 2010, the world and states are changing. Her assault on her own country is appalling. Charge the woman with treason and get it over with.
Comment posted April 6, 2009 @ 5:08 pm
But! But! Michelle! Don’t those unwanted babies need a place to live, too? I mean, surely you wouldn’t want those babies you saved from murder to be homeless, do you? It’s not like they’ll have parents, since the unintended pregnancy would be forced to term, and we’re fully aware how compassionate the GOP is when it comes to aiding unwed mothers and their little bastards, and you certainly won’t take them in (love the unborn, fuck the already-born, right, Michelle?) , where ever will they live if all the homes in your district are being foreclosed on??!! **end sarcasm**
Comment posted April 6, 2009 @ 6:18 pm
Lets build re-education camps in the forclosed houses and fill them with snow flake babies and hand guns!
Comment posted April 6, 2009 @ 8:12 pm
The 6th district is clearly the state’s magnet for questionable immigrants and brown people!
Will you help save the endangered Stillwater dingbat?
————
“Because of CRA, Bachmann said, “[President Bill Clinton] turned the two quasi-private, mortgage-funding firms into a semi-nationalized monopoly that dispensed cash to markets, made loans to large Democrat [sic] voting blocs and handed favors, jobs and money to political allies. This potential mix led inevitably to corruption and the Fannie-Freddie collapse.”
“Loans started being made on the basis of race, and often little else,” she said.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DHuxHyafyM&eurl=http://dumpbachmann.blogspot.com/
Comment posted April 6, 2009 @ 8:51 pm
Kammie, Kammie. Please stop reading Newbusters as your primary source of right wing nonsense. The CRA is not to blame for this financial meltdown and neither are the Democrats in Congress. The Republicans were in charge from 2000 on. That is the time frame that they passed laws allowing the “free market” to dictate these crazy financial deals that nobody (well almost nobody) could understand. The house of cards finally hits a bump and fell down.
“It’s time to stop the scapegoating: According to a study by the Federal Reserve, 94% of high-cost loans originated during the housing boom had nothing to do with Community Reinvestment Act goals….”
http://tinyurl.com/4zcq8y
Comment posted April 7, 2009 @ 1:06 am
Conservatives are nothing more than sociopathic liars.
Here is what the Fed had to say about the CRA
http://menendez.senate.gov/pdf/112508ResponsefromBernankeonCRA.pdf
Thank you for your letter of October 24, 2008, requesting the Board’s view on claims that the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) is to blame for the subprime meltdown and current mortgage foreclosure situation. We are aware of such claims but have not seen any empirical evidence presented to support them. Our own experience with CRA over more than 30 years and recent analysis of available data, including data on subprime loan performance, runs counter to the charge that CRA was at the root of, or otherwise contributed in any substantive way to, the current mortgage difficulties. . .
Comment posted April 7, 2009 @ 6:02 am
My God, what a bunch of misinformed people. Please check: Glass/Steagal act and who repealed it. Wright county is one of the counties that Cong. Bachmann serves. One only has to do some simple research to see that growth exploded in Wright County with first time home owners (get it, no down payment, some got sucked into AARM’s) leading the way. I live in Wright County. The scams going on were a joke. Lady across the street signs NO PAPERWORK, but sends 5k down and 1k per month for a rent to own. Guess what? The whole thing was a scam. At last count this person has been traced out of the country and had done this to 20+ homes. How about the 28 y/o painter who owned three homes, renting two and planning on retireing at 45? Did Bachmann give him the loans to cover that? How about the two poster children for greed and corruption, Barney Frank D-MA and Chris Dodd D-CT ordering banks to give questionable loans and if they defaulted Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would cover it. Don’t believe any of this? Go to http://www.opensecrets.org and look at the trail of cash and where it came from. This newslet and most of it’s liberal readers have a perpetual hard on for Bachmann. Instead of letting your lives be ruled by blind hatred for anything Conservative/Republican, maybe you should pull your heads out and do some research before running at the mouth.
Pingback posted April 7, 2009 @ 7:13 am
[...] reason to ignore her. But her craziness keeps getting national notice, so that’s hard to do. The Minnesota Independent reports that her district has the highest rate of foreclosures in MN, and that she “voted against all [...]
Comment posted April 7, 2009 @ 11:26 am
>Bachmann’s district had a higher foreclosure rate than the rest of >Minnesota and the rest of the country. But Bachmann’s record in >Congress is not one of a representative whose district faces such a >crisis. Bachmann hasn’t authored or sponsored any legislation to >assist homeowners facing foreclosure, but she has co-sponsored 14 >bills to restrict abortions and five to promote Christianity in >government.
I have no sympathy for the 6th District. They’ve got what they’ve asked for. They voted for a wingbat Rapturo-Nazi and now their dreams are destroyed…a schadenfreude moment if there ever was one.
If anything I hope Bachmann continues to serve as an object lesson for the rest of the planet. We can happily watch as these xenophobic, homophobic, misogynist, troglodyte gun fetishists continue to throw themselves on the pyre.
Comment posted April 7, 2009 @ 2:36 pm
This article assumes that introducing legislation and/or the “five key foreclosure relief bills” are the resolution to the foreclosure issue. Perhaps no legislation or the “five key foreclosure relief bills” are not the solution. Why do we always think that when something goes the way we do not like, we must address it with new laws, programs, funding or government intervention?
Comment posted April 7, 2009 @ 3:08 pm
It seems nothing more surprising than each Representative knowing their constituencies.
People of the 6th are more apt to be self-reliant, common sense people who are not prone to sticking out their hands while crying bitter “poor me” tears…the people of the 5th, well, not so much.
In addition, as has been pointed out, Rep. Bachmann has no vested interest in sweeping the Democrat party’s “CRA fingerprints” under the rug….Ellison very much does.
Pingback posted April 8, 2009 @ 1:02 pm
[...] referenced a Minnesota Independent article that says (bold mine): Bachmann’s record in Congress is not one of a representative whose district faces [...]
Pingback posted April 8, 2009 @ 4:51 pm
[...] Minnesota Independent. “Foreclosures have hit Minnesota’s economy hard, leading to a debate among [...]
Comment posted April 8, 2009 @ 5:02 pm
Can we send Ms. Bachmann to the re-education camp first as a test case!
Comment posted April 9, 2009 @ 12:04 am
Hey Desautel,
So which education camp would you like to send my Congresswoman to? The one where the lefties such as yourself go to learn to march in lockstep? So, sorry Tom, as much disdain as you show for Congresswoman Bachmann, I like her independant spirit, as do her constituents of the sixth district. This is much unlike those very constituents of McCollum, Ellison (who you may remember did try to exercise some independance when first elected of which I give him credit for that) Sabo and others who take their marching orders from Speaker Pelosi.
I also find it humorous to readthese comments. The mindless name calling just proves to those that have a modicum of intelligence that those who do denigrate others, that their arguments are totally without merit when one cannot conduct him/herself with even a shread of decency and respect for others whose opinions may not mirror their own.
Comment posted April 9, 2009 @ 12:32 am
Interesting… So Rep Bachmann’s district has a larger-than-average number of foreclosures,… and yet they’re NOT the ones clammoring for her to vote in a bunch of legislation meant to bail themselves out of their OWN self-made troubles by stealing as-yet-unearned tax dollars from their own children & grandchildren. And this is a bad thing?
Perhaps they’re just used to facing up to the consequences of their own actions? If they get themselves into trouble, maybe they figure on getting themselves out of it too,… instead of stealing from their kids & grandkids to benefit themselves.
Comment posted April 11, 2009 @ 12:57 pm
Now I understand why Michelle Bachmann made it onto Rep. Bachus’ list of the 17 most important socialists in congress. She has been trading votes on behalf of socialist bankers who continue to receive TARP money to block foreclosure relief legislation for campaign contributions. Until now, I couldn’t understand the connection.
I guess Rep. Bachus was right, corporate socialism is alive and well in America.
Comment posted April 15, 2009 @ 8:28 am
when you read the comments, it appears your paper is run and supported by the left, most of the comments are rude and mean; and you folks say the ‘right’ is mean!
Comment posted April 16, 2009 @ 11:23 pm
I find it most revealing, and somewhat saddening, that certain comments in here reveal a complete lack of understanding of what the word “Socialist” actually means. A “Socialist” supports “Socialism”. And…
- – - –
so⋅cial⋅ism Show Spelled Pronunciation [soh-shuh-liz-uhm]
–noun
1. a theory or system of social organization that advocates the vesting of the ownership and control of the means of production and distribution of capital, goods, or services, in the Government or the Community as a whole.
- – - –
Most of those bankers that some are calling “Socialists” are trying to return the TARP money early now. Why? Because they don’t want it. Because they DON’T want the Govt to have “ownership and control” of them, or of most of the financial industry as a whole. The Obama Administration is doing it’s best to refuse to allow that to happen, by actually refusing to accept the TARP money back. Why would President Obama do this? Because the Obama Administration WANTS to have the “ownership and control” of those banks, of whole sections of what should be “private” industry, in their hands instead. In the hands of “the Government or the Community as a whole.”
Just as they are now “controling” GM. Who is it who forced out the CEO of GM? While it’s true that he may have needed to go, was it the GM stockholders who forced him out? Nope! It was the Obama Administration, as the Government, “controling” one of America’s largest “private” businesses and forcing out it’s CEO,… with or without the consent of that business’s stockholders!
Who is the “Socialist” here??? In case you still don’t get it, I’ll give you hint. It’s NOT the Banks,… nor is it Michelle Bachmann,… that’s for sure!
Comment posted April 16, 2009 @ 11:31 pm
Thank you 6th Dist Grandpa… I wanted to ask Mr. Turkeyfish if he could define “Socialism” for us and then possibly he would learn something himself rather than typing with a serious case of fingertip diarrhea.
Pingback posted April 25, 2009 @ 7:18 pm
[...] Minnesota Independent shows that the highest foreclosure rates in the state are in Bachmann’s district, or as they put it, “where congressional [...]
Pingback posted June 4, 2009 @ 8:38 pm
[...] referenced a Minnesota Independent article that says (bold mine): Bachmann’s record in Congress is not one of a representative whose district faces [...]
Pingback posted December 1, 2009 @ 4:23 pm
[...] 2008, Rep. Michele Bachmann’s district had the highest number of foreclosures in Minnesota and the highest rate of foreclosures. Now, as 2009 draws to a close, that trend [...]
Pingback posted December 1, 2009 @ 7:39 pm
[...] district had the highest number of foreclosures in Minnesota and the highest rate of foreclosures. Now, as 2009 draws to a close, that trend continues. According [...]
Comment posted December 11, 2009 @ 11:26 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKKKgua7wQk
Pingback posted March 22, 2010 @ 3:46 pm
[...] can have the quaintest notions about camping at times. Very quaint. She’s not crazy about people owning homes, [...]
Comment posted March 31, 2010 @ 6:27 pm
I’m from New Hampshire. Up here we dont suffer fools gladly, and arent shy about throwing the bums out! BUt, who you elect is your business. I just want you to know that Cong. Backmann is is viewed by most in the east with primarily laughter at the joke’s she’s made out of office. In addition, there is anger that her party, with her as some kind of leader, can make such oputlandish statements. My unasked for advice is to get her out now, before she get more power and money that will make it MUCH harder in the future!! If you REALLY love you statte, and your contry, do it now!
Comment posted April 14, 2010 @ 10:23 am
A less mendacious title for your publication would be “Minnesota Dependent”. Rating Congressional performance by how fervently legislators supported bail outs for deadbeat borrowers (which ultimately bails out deadbeat banks and reckless lenders and investors) is applying a standard of “goodness” that promotes dependence on government intevention in foolishly entered private transactions, at the expense of those who avoidud financial folly. Keep it up long enough and an even more accurate title would be “Minnesota Supplicant”.
Comment posted July 26, 2011 @ 9:58 pm
My only comment is this, how did a person like Bachmann get elected, was she runing against a monkey?
Pingback posted September 2, 2011 @ 7:40 am
[...] The Minnesota Independent reports that Bachmann’s 6th congressional district takes the lead in the state’s foreclosure rates, yet she has voted down all five foreclosure relief bills introduced in Congress. Bachmann believes that providing relief to families about to lose their homes, or even establishing consumer protections against malicious mortgage schemes would be tantamount to “rewarding the irresponsible while punishing those who have been playing by the rules.” [...]
Pingback posted September 4, 2011 @ 11:19 pm
[...] the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, because it leaves the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac entities intact. The Minnesota Independent reports that Bachmann’s 6th congressional district takes the lead in the state’s [...]
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