City Hall’s coming foreclosure shopping spree

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From today’s L.A. Times, on the Senate’s housing bill: ‘The bill also includes $4 billion in block grants to allow communities hard-hit by foreclosures to buy and rehabilitate vacant or abandoned homes.’

Think about this one for a second. Do you really think this is the best way to sell off foreclosed houses? Do you really want the city of Los Angeles running around town with a pile of your money buying foreclosed houses from the banks and lenders? And then using your money to renovate those houses? We’re talking about the Los Angeles Housing Department -- the same people who paid $18,000 to a Zen Buddhist priest from Hawaii for management training. Do you really think that crowd will spend money wisely fixing up foreclosed properties? How much do you suppose the city will pay for a $109 toilet? Do you think for a second the city’s buying criteria and process will be transparent?

Sorry, I got a little worked up there.

This is all a wind-up to pitch yet another worthwhile op-ed piece today on latimes.com, in which Paul Thornton argues that government should not be in the business of propping up housing prices: ‘Congress ought to get out of the way of market forces and let home prices drop -- and yes, that does mean more foreclosures. For those of us who don’t qualify for government assistance, it’s our only shot at affordable housing.’

Your thoughts? Comments? E-mail story tips to peter.viles@latimes.com
Photo Credit: Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, by Getty Images