US Home Owners Left Destitute

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