Low-income residents in Washington, DC are losing their homes over debts as small as $44 dollars.
According to the Washington Post, that city is auctioning off property
tax debt, and investors are buying it up, jacking up the bills with
interest and other charges, and then foreclosing on people's homes.
Since 2005, investors have seized almost 200 homes in low-income areas,
and about one out of every three were debts under $1,000. The D.C.
Office of Tax and Revenue said property owners would not be inclined to
pay their tax bills without the program, but opponents says that
investors are preying on vulnerable homeowners. Many of the homes they
foreclosed on belonged to elderly people, some of whom were dying in
hospice care, or being treated for Alzheimer's in nursing homes. City
officials recently changed the program, to stop auctioning off tax debts
of less than $1,000, but housing advocates say they won't stop fighting
until they get more protections for low-income home owners.
Washington Post article here
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