Today, we teamed up with MoveOn.org, city residents, and and local elected leaders to hold a rally outside a vacant residence on Sheridan Avenue, an especially blighted street in Arbor Hill, a neighborhood in Albany that suffers from a high poverty rate.
Real estate partnerships have taken advantage of loopholes in New York’s tax code that enable them to avoid paying taxes when buildings are sold or repossesed. New York could get up to $1 billion from prior-year audits on these partnerships, and hundreds of millions per year after that. By closing these loopholes, the revenue recovered could be put toward our struggling communities, like $25 million in state funding for a program that provides counseling for homeowners facing foreclosure.
Our rally was part of the nationwide “Save oOur Homes” day of action, where activists held rallies and events across the country in front of foreclosed homes to spotlight the gross inequities working families are facing with banks kicking them out of their homes while they make record profits and reap tax benefits from the government.
Here’s our photo album from the event.
Here are some quotes from people who spoke today:
“For too long, this state has allowed big banks and the wealthy to carve themselves out the tax breaks they want rather than working for the 99%. Now, when these working families are facing foreclosure and need their government most, we see a continuance of these tax breaks while we cut funding for critical foreclosure counseling. This dynamic is especially hard felt by people of color in these communities. Enough is enough – it’s time for our government to start working for the majority of New Yorkers and not be bought by the highest bidder,” said Ivette Alfonso, Citizen Action of New York President.
“We seem to always find a way for corporations in need but when it is working people in need there seems to be no money available. We see this on Wall Street and we see it right here in Albany on State Street. When wealthy investors from Texas said they didn’t have the money to fix up the Crowne Plaza, one of many hotels they recently purchased, they asked the city for the money – and the city gave it to them in tax breaks. But there seems to be limited money for our neighborhoods that seem to continue to be neglected year after year, while tax breaks continue to go to the well connected,” said former Albany City Councilman Corey Ellis.
“There is an incredible need to adequately fund the foreclosure prevention program in New York State. New Yorkers are facing record levels of foreclosures and we must help them. At the same time, many wealthy investors in real estate partnerships are not paying the taxes they are supposed to pay and have been getting away with it for nearly a decade in our state. If we were to simply audit these partnerships properly we could recover hundreds of millions in uncollected taxes that could fund important programs like the foreclosure prevention program,” said Ron Deutsch, Executive Director of New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness.
“Americans are sinking in underwater mortgages. It’s far past time that government-controlled mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac provide some needed relief,” said Susan Weber, an Albany MoveOn volunteer coordinator. “Clearly, Ed DeMarco doesn’t care about homeowners; if he did he would require the banks to write down the principal on the fraudulent or “liar loans” [allow them to adjust their mortgages] to reflect the true value of their homes. The financial sector ruined the economy, and the government bailed them out. If we’re going to get our economy back on track, President Obama must help the 99%, replace DeMarco, and make sure Fannie and Freddie provide relief to the millions of Americans struggling with mortgage debt.”
“Since 2008, New York State has been funding non-profit housing counseling and legal services to homeowners in default and foreclosure across New York State through the Foreclosure Prevention Services Program,” said Kirsten Keefe, senior attorney with Empire Justice Center. “While we are hopeful a recently announced Attorney General settlement will provide funding for these services down the road, the settlement has not even been finalized and money will not be on the ground for months. Without continued funding in this year’s budget, programs will be forced to wind down services now.”