Over the last three years, the government of California, under the leadership of the strong green economy advocate governor Edmund G. Brown Jr., has signed many bills into law to ease restrictions on new developments. Most of these bills are unique in their own right, as no other states in the United States have such in effect. U.S. Senate Bill 54 Laws In a counter to U.S. Senate Bill 54,...
Wells Fargo ordered to pay $2.09B to settle allegations of misrepresentation of Loan quality
Ten years after the financial crisis which was largely contributed by the faulty mortgage system, Wells Fargo agreed to go on record to pay $2.09 Billion to settle a U.S. Probe into its creation and sale of loan that contributed to the horror. The settlement comes as a fine to settle claims that Wells Faro misled investors about the quality of the subprime mortgage loans that it had initiated and...
HUD Housing reform could potentially split families apart
The Trump administration has vowed to end its policy of separating children from their parent not on records, however, underway is a deep crisis and at the center of it are innocent American Kids, a crisis that is unfolding and no one is noticing it. In April, the Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson made public a proposal which seeks to reform the way rents are made in public...
FHFA director Mel Watt under investigation for sexual misconduct
Melvin L. Watt, the Director of Federal Housing Finance Agency is being investigated for alleged sexual misconduct- harassment of an employee. Watt is being accused of repeatedly making inappropriate sexual advances against an FHFA staffer when she tried to discuss with Watt about her career and salary concerns. Currently, the employee works as a special adviser at FHFA and has been working with FHFA since December 2014, according to a...
Civil rights groups Sue HUD over the Suspended Implementation of Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Rule
The National Fair Housing Alliance along with its affiliate members asked a federal court in Washington, D.C to order the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to reinstate a federal Law that requires both the local and the state government address segregated housing patterns as a condition deemed to receive HUD funding. The group alleges that HUD unlawfully suspended the requirement in January 2018 which removed the civil...
Tips to keeping your marketing campaigns legal
Recently, there have been allegations that Facebook facilitates housing discriminations by allowing the real estate advertisers to explicitly exclude audiences protected under the Fair Housing Act. Facebook is now dealing with the fallout from the apparent data breaches allegations to questionable ad targeting practices. These allegations were the primary focus of a federal lawsuit filed late March by the National Fair Housing Alliance and some of its affiliate organizations. According...
Ocwen Financial, Altisource and Deutsche Bank’s discrimination against the Communities of color
The National Fair Housing Alliance with 19 other Fair Housing organizations filed a lawsuit against Deustche Bank for allegedly neglecting foreclosed and Bank-owned properties in the Minority Neighborhoods. The allegations claim that Deustche Bank failed to maintain its bank-owned properties in the African American and Asian communities while preserving its bank-owned properties in the white neighborhoods. The lawsuit accused the company along with Ocwen Financial, Altisource, of racial discrimination. NFHA...
HUD sued for delays in the Anti-segregation rule
A group of Fair Housing Advocacy are planning to sue the Department of Housing and Urban Development and its secretary Ben Carson for allegedly delaying on an Obama-Era rule meant to ensure that communities confront and put an end to the racial segregation. The lawsuit wants the department to oblige and follow a rule that is meant to help in the preclusion of segregation and to abide by the Fair...
Latinos are underrepresented in Mortgage Loans Applications
Latinos became the largest ethnic minority group in the US in mid-2000s. They currently make up nearly the 17% percent of the US population and contribute up to $2.13 TRILLION to the economy. However, it would be hard finding evidence of these numbers by looking at mortgage applications. In the state of California, Latinos are highly underrepresented in the mortgage market. In fact, Latinos represent nearly half of the population...
Facebook accused of allowing discrimination in housing ads
The National Fair Housing Alliance and some of its affiliate fair housing advocacy organizations in March filed a federal lawsuit with allegations that, Facebook enables housing discrimination. This the organization claim that Facebook does so by allowing real estate professionals to exclude segments of the audiences protected by the Federal fair housing laws. According to the lawsuit, NHFA was able to bar families with children and women from receiving ads...