Bill Moyers Journal On The Destruction Of Cleveland's Slavic Village; Unregulated Proliferation Of Subprime Loans A Key Reason, Says County Official

A significant portion of the first segment of a program that ran last week on PBS' Bill Moyers Journal focused on the destruction of the Cleveland, Ohio neighborhood known as Slavic Village, which local officials attribute to the unregulated proliferation of subprime loans. Owners losing their homes, boarded up property, tenants forced out of their homes on short notice due to foreclosure evictions - losing their rented homes, prepaid rent & security deposits, and many of their personal possessions in the process, abandoned homes that are literally worth less than nothing (where demolition costs exceed the value of the dilapidated structure and the land it sits on), and reduced county population and tax base are among the effects the city is struggling with.
Go here on the Bill Moyers Journal website for the transcript and video of the program.

For a copy of the lawsuit brought by Cleveland, Ohio against 21 financial institutions in an attempt to hold them partially responsible for many of the problems the city is currently dealing with, see City of Cleveland v. Deutsche Bank Trust Company, et al. (available online courtesy of Bill Moyers Journal) (if you have a problem with this link, drop me a line at HomeEquityTheft@yahoo.com and I'll e-mail it to you - be sure and put "City of Cleveland v. Deutsche Bank" in "subject" line).

For related stories that reference Cleveland's Slavic Village, see:

• The Washington Post: The Shadow of Debt (Slavic Village Is Fast Becoming a Ghost Town. It's Not Alone),
• National Public Radio: In Cleveland, Foreclosures Decimate Neighborhoods,
• The Cleveland Free Times: Stealing Home (Slavic Village Combats The Effects Of Foreclosures At The Street Level While Waiting For Solutions),
• WKYC-TV Channel 3 (Cleveland): Fear grips Slavic Village neighborhood after arson fires,
• Reuters: Some homes worth less than their copper pipes,

Go here, go here, and go here for other posts on vacant homes leaving their mark on neighborhoods. neighborhood destruction from foreclosures kappa