In a narrow 4-3 margin, the Richmond City Council rejected a resolution to terminate a contract with Mortgage Resolution Partners, the company that hatched a plan to seize underwater mortgages through eminent domain. Per Contra Costa Times:
As the columnist Tom Barnidge put it in the article:
The flaws in Richmond's plan are many, beginning with whether eminent domain can even be used this way. Plus, the plan affects a limited number of homes — barely 3 percent of single-family residences — and helps no one in foreclosure, while MRP tacks a fee onto each transaction. Then there's the search for lenders to fund new loans at more than 100 percent of value.
This scheme to end the so-called mortgage crisis, championed by bank-hating Mayor Gayle McLaughlin, is rich in intention and short on critical thought.
