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TONY YOUNG (San Diego Councilmember of the Fourth District): I'm Tony Young,
councilmember of the Fourth Council District in the city of San Diego.
We understand that people are losing their homes.
And it's a terrible thing and we need to continue to work on that issue.
Property taxes are really the life blood of government here, in the city and also the state.
With this tremendous decrease it has created a tremendous burden
on city governments and our state government.
If property is worth less, property taxes are lower, less money for our general fund,
less money for police, fire, parks and rec, all types of things.
That's a major issue for the city of San Diego.
Matter of fact, this last year the city of San Diego had to fill over a $100 million gap
in the budget, and a lot of that had to do with lack of sales,
and also a decrease in property taxes.
However, the fact is that there are people who are not going to be in those homes,
or maybe these condominiums any longer, so wouldn't it make sense,
instead of some prospector that's driving around communities picking up these properties
and not really taking care of these properties, wouldn't it make sense for the city of San Diego
and it's housing commission to actually identify a pot of money and purchase those homes
and eventually use them for opportunities for people to move into.
I think there's options and opportunities to do this, but it's going to take a kind
of a recycling of dollars after properties are sold.
And then, an opportunity to buy additional ones.
And then identifying the appropriate properties to purchase that would really fit
into this program and then preparing people to move in too,
because you can't just move somebody into a property you have to prepare them.
And I think financial literacy; understand one of the problems that I think people got
into this issue in the first place is
that they really didn't understand really what it meant to move into a home.
And people were able to take advantage of that.
That's why I think financial literacy is important, and we have to continue
to teach people that there are predators out there and those are our responsibilities
and all the papers that you're signing when it comes
to buying a home, they actually mean something.
And you have to read them and you have to understand them if you're going
to protect yourself and your family.
ANNOUNCER: If you're having trouble with your home loan or think you may be headed
to foreclosure, help is available.
2-1-1 San Diego can connect you with the community resources you need.
You can dial 2-1-1 or log onto KPBS-dot-org-slash-mortgage-crisis.
We're facing the mortgage crisis together.