Kucinich asks something I'd been wondering about

You may have seen the news story yesterday that the Obama administration is going to provide $1.5 billion from the TARP program to help fight foreclosures in five hard-hit states: California, Arizona, Nevada, Florida and Michigan. I immediately went, “Huh? Where’s Ohio?” Anyone who has been following the foreclosure story for a while — say, a little longer than the Plain Dealer — knows that Ohio, and especially Cleveland — has been at its epicenter. You can drive through neighborhoods like Slavic Village and Mount Pleasant and see the devastation. It’s now spread to inner-ring suburbs like Lakewood and Cleveland Heights, which have seen the number of empty homes skyrocket. And the contagion is spreading to the exurbs too. The population in Cleveland in the next census is projected to be historic. So we’re bailing out — Arizona?

Dennis Kucinich thought this sounded fishy too and released the following statement

http://kucinich.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=171224

“President Obama’s decision to provide $1.5 billion from Troubled Asset Relief Program funds to assist homeowners in a select number of states is good news for some, but it falls far short of what is needed.

“For unexplained reasons, the new initiative skips some of the states hardest hit by the foreclosure crisis, such as Ohio. In Ohio, new foreclosure filings reached record levels in 2009, and are expected to get worse for 2010. In fact, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s most recent data, there are nearly 72,000 loans in Ohio that are more than 90 days past due and are receiving no relief. Making matters worse, Ohio already ranks 48th out of 50 states in terms of receiving any help from the Administration’s other major initiative, the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). I cannot understand an oversight of this magnitude. This is not acceptable and it needs to be remedied."

Kucinich said that his Domestic Policy Subcommittee will hold a hearing on Thursday, February 24, on the foreclosure crisis, his 10th including one in Cleveland last month at which Cuyahoga County Treasurer Jim Rokakis, who was warning about the crisis a decade ago, testified, among others.

His release says, “The hearing will explore the changes needed to improve the Administration’s efforts to address the foreclosure crisis in this country. A Treasury official is scheduled to testify.”

You know you can count on Kucinich to ask some pointed questions. I only wish he could give administration officials a tour of Slavic Village.