How Much Do Banks Owe L.A.?
A Growing Crisis
California has the most foreclosures of any state | 23% of US foreclosures |
Foreclosures projected in California through 2012 | 2 million |
Homes in California experiencing foreclosure-related decline | 12 million |
Average loss in property value in California per home | $51,000 |
Foreclosures in the city of Los Angeles | 25,000 |
Homeowner wealth lost in L.A. so far | $276.6 billion |
Big banks shattered our economy and left workers and our communities to clean up the pieces. We’ve lost eight million jobs, our retirement savings vanished, entire neighborhoods are ravaged by foreclosure, and our city suffers. Falling property revenues have slashed city budgets for parks, programs and police.
Risky decisions made by Wall Street banks plunged Los Angeles into financial misery and fueled a housing crisis that’s cost homeowners a staggering $6 trillion since 2006.
Yet the worst has not passed. We are facing another tsunami of foreclosures in California.
As the foreclosure crisis grows, so do taxpayer related costs including losses in property values and local tax revenues, and costs to taxpayers to maintain foreclosed properties. With one in seven homeowners delinquent on their mortgage or already in foreclosure and one in four mortgages underwater, continued weakness in the housing sector will likely slow or derail economic recovery and hamper efforts to create jobs and reduce unemployment.