How banks are legally stealing homes of poor in Baltimore
BY ALICE OLLSTEIN AUG 27, 2015 4:58PM
The death of Freddie Gray in police custody in Baltimore and the ensuing protests brought the nation’s attention to the economic devastation that continues to grip the city. Now, new data shows powerful hedge funds are profiting off of struggling families in Baltimore by buying up debts as small as $250, charging high interest rates, and taking their homes when they fail to pay. A report just released by the research and advocacy group HedgeClippers documents how the Wall Street hedge fund Fortress Investment Group and the Los Angeles-based Imperial Capital bought up hundreds of these small liens this year — on everything from an unpaid water bills to delinquent property taxes — and could take property worth tens of millions of dollars if the families can’t pay.
Once the hedge funds buy up these small debts, they reap an 18 percent interest, according to the Baltimore-based research group The Abell Foundation. More fees pile up after four months, and if the families can’t pay, they lose their homes. An analysis of those impacted in 2014 found the families had been living in their homes an average of 21 years. Half were elderly, more than a third were disabled, and the majority were African American.
State Delegate Cory McCray, a Democrat who grew up in and represents Baltimore, told ThinkProgress he has gotten a handful of phone calls this year from constituents on the cusp of losing their home over an unpaid water bill.
“The city needs a way to recoup its money, but they shouldn’t take someone’s home for that small amount,” he said. “Your house is your wealth that you pass on to the next generation. We have to protect that.”
McCray and other lawmakers recently passed a bill to raise the amount that would trigger a lien from $250 to $500, which he emphasized is still an unfairly low amount over ...
= new reply since forum marked as read
If it's so easy to stretch your mind, you should do it and save Baltimore. Since, you know, the people who run Baltimore are just too dumb to fully use their minds. 
Maybe a Kickstartr for people to pay small liens. It's sad that in a country with so much money the only solution I can imagine is internet contributions. 
I hate to say it but cities like these are likely doomed over the long run. They were built in different times and look likely to go the way of the ghost towns in the west. That is, unless they can find some way to attract a tax base who can pay. The fedgov intervening is the only other way, and unfortunately that looks impossible.
You've clearly keyed on the most relevant aspect of the story. 
Disgusting Predatory A**holes. 
