WASHINGTON—It is difficult to locate a silver lining in the latest prognosis for the battered American dream, with new data suggesting an unprecedented housing meltdown has slipped even more deeply into the crater of joblessness.

But some commentators managed to do just that Thursday, trumpeting a new RealtyTrac survey that showed the worst may be over for 23 of the 25 cities most ravaged by the foreclosure crisis.

From Las Vegas to Bakersfield to Tampa, almost all the most bubblicious of American towns appear to be levelling off after hemorrhaging housing value during the sub-prime mortgage plunge.

But in fact all 25 cities still suffer from foreclosure rates two to five times the national average. More ominously, the RealtyTrac figures showed foreclosures creeping throughout the rest of the country to recession-battered cities not closely associated with the original crisis. In all, 75 per cent of 206 metropolitan areas with at least 200,000 residents saw a spike in home auctions, repossessions or notices of default between January and June of this year. Fully one in 78 homes were embroiled in foreclosure.

Behind all the numbers, social researchers are only just beginning to come to grips with the human toll. And this too makes for grim reading, albeit one with a different smidgen of hope.

“It really is breathtaking in a terrible sort of way to look across the range of impacts, from housing to joblessness,” said Rich Morin, who tracking the pain for the Pew Research Centre.

The Pew research team’s most recent findings – based on in-depth interviews with nearly 1,000 jobless Americans as part of a larger nationwide survey of 3,000 people — are embodied in their report’s title: Lost Income, Lost Friends — and Loss of Self-respect.

What is especially striking is the sense of permanence that has settled in among some Americans who’ve suffered the most — middle-class, middle-income, middle-aged Americans, especially Baby Boomers in the 50-64 age bracket, many of whom have burned through all their assets and now face a retirement under unchangeably diminished circumstances.

“A few years ago we spoke about the Baby Boom being at the peak of earning potential,” Morin said in an interview. “But they were the ones who made major investments in larger homes and really took it on the chin. Many did so well for so long and now this. It’s like a reward for our hubris, being flat broke.

“This translates to psychological impacts. Four out of 10 of the unemployed we spoke to tell us family relations have suffered, 40 per cent said they lost contact with close friends. And a third say they have lost self-respect.

“The data suggests this is going to alter retirement plans. For people who are losing their house, when the recession ends they aren’t getting that money back. And many have rethought their careers in the downward sense, settling for and making due with jobs that just aren’t as good as what they had.”

So where is that glimmer? Pew found that despite everything, a majority of Americans say they still has faith in home ownership.

“They know it’s going to be hard, they know it’ll be a long while yet,” said Morin. “But owning property, for the majority, is the way you become a fully formed person in America. To own a home, to put down roots in a place you call your own – that ideal is intact.

“I suppose that says something about American culture. There’s something to be said for the eternal optimist. Americans as a species have always tended to look on the bright side. And it appears we still do.”

thestar.com

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Chicago’s collar counties are bracing for millions of dollars in lost revenue if Gov. Pat Quinn signs a bill that would give banks the choice to hire private companies to handle the growing number of home foreclosures across northern Illinois.

The measure garnered near unanimous support in the General Assembly, but now some of the lawmakers who once championed it are urging Quinn to veto the bill.

“I’m in favor of the governor vetoing this or at least letting us go back and change it in such a way that it doesn’t hurt counties,” said state Rep. Dan Brady, R-Bloomington, who co-sponsored the bill in the House but then removed his name from the measure last week. “I don’t think many of us realized what the unintended consequences of this might be.”

State Sen. A.J. Wilhelmi, D-Joliet, who co-sponsored the bill in the Senate, said he has asked for a meeting with Quinn to warn him about the financial risks.

“I now have concerns about the potential negative consequences that may result to counties,” Wilhelmi said.

The governor’s office is reviewing the bill and has reached out to its sponsors, said spokeswoman Annie Thompson.

At a time of soaring home foreclosures across Chicago and its suburbs, counties have created a valuable extra stream of revenue by tacking on fees to each transaction.

In Will County, where years of housing growth have given way to mounting foreclosures, administrative fees brought in an additional $1.5 million last year and are expected to rake in close to $2.5 million in 2010, officials said. Records show similar fees earned DuPage and Lake counties more than $1.2 million in 2009; Kane County pulled in about $1 million.

In Cook County, private companies already compete with the county for foreclosures and have secured about 98 percent of the business, said sheriff’s spokesman Steve Patterson.

When a foreclosure is filed in court, judges appoint someone — typically the local sheriff’s office — to oversee the proceedings, from handling the eviction to filing paperwork and reselling the home.

“(An eviction) can be a really emotional time for most families, and I think it’s helpful to have a uniformed officer on hand to explain all your options,” said Will County sheriff’s spokesman Pat Barry.

Counties recoup some of the money spent during a foreclosure by tacking on administrative fees, often hundreds of dollars, that is directed back into their general fund.

The new bill would tweak the existing law by transferring power from judges to the plaintiffs — banks or mortgage lenders — who could streamline the sales process and avoid paying county administrative fees by hiring a private company to mediate the foreclosure.

The measure’s staunchest supporter, state Rep. Lou Lang, D-Skokie, views the bill as “consumer friendly” and says it’s simply clarifying a law that has been co-opted by judges looking to boost revenue at the county level.

“With foreclosures having increased in the last couple of years, I think counties see this as a chance to pile on,” said Andrew Schusteff, president of Intercounty Judicial Sales, a Chicago company that handles foreclosure proceedings and sales. “Besides a money grab by the counties, what justification can be made for the sheriff’s departments to be involved in these cases?”

Schusteff said private companies can often put homes back on the market within weeks after a foreclosure, compared with months for the sheriff’s department. Quicker proceedings may save families money if they’re able to work out an agreement to save their homes from the bank, Schusteff said, and it could improve surrounding property values and save municipalities the costly upkeep of abandoned homes.

Schusteff said Intercounty was among a handful of private firms who helped draft the bill, and records show it has been a generous contributor to Lang’s re-election efforts. Intercounty and its founder, Fred Lappe, have donated $30,800 to Lang’s campaigns since 2001, according to the State Board of Elections’ Web site.

Lang bristles at those who say those donations explain his support of the bill.

“Of course people support people who support them,” Lang said. “But under that argument, all campaign donations are tainted. That’s wrong, and it’s insulting to me.”

chicagotribune.com

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