The long overdue, but somewhat overlooked Final Report to Congress on the Root Causes of the Foreclosure Crisis required by Section 1517 of the SAFE Act of 2008 has finally been offered to the public.

Originally due in July 2009, the report which has an 11 page of Executive Summary followed by fifty-five pages of report details plus a two page appendix comparing State level data on 2005 versus 2008 Foreclosure Start Rates, High Cost Loan rates, FHFA Housing Price Index Changes, and State Unemployment Rates; has been posted on the HUD website only about six months after the due date required in the legislation.

Beyond the Executive Summary and Introduction the report is divided into three sections plus the bibliography, additional reading and tow page Appendix mentioned above. 

The report includes:

Trends in Delinquencies and Foreclosures including a Regional Trends in Foreclosures

Literature Review including:

2.1 General Literature on Causes of Foreclosures and Delinquencies
2.2 Literature Assessing Causes of the Current Foreclosure Crisis
2.3 Factors Enabling Expanded Risky Lending

Policy Responses to the Foreclosure Crisis including:

3.1 Efforts To Address Rising Foreclosures
3.2 Efforts To Reduce the Risk of Unacceptably High Rates of Mortgage Foreclosures in the Future
3.3 Comprehensive Mortgage Market Reform

As previewed last year when the six month late interim report was issued, IMMAAG remains concerned that the study has focused on what we refer to as Foreclosure Facilitators, not ROOT Causes. The Final Report has done nothing to change our impression. We continue to be concerned that the government is avoiding the search for the true Root Cause because it would be politically uncomfortable to suggest that at its core,  foreclosure is generally caused by a national propensity to immediate gratification fueled by a sense of entitlement with respect to home ownership.

 

Subscribers and Advocate Sponsors – Executive Summary with in Context Comments

 

IMMAAG has created a fully commented version of the eleven page executive summary which is available to our subscribers and sponsors by clicking here. We will be offering a similar analysis of the full report to our subscribers and advocate sponsors very shortly.  

 

Full copy available:

 

A copy of the full report is available by clicking here.