U.S. Congressman Seeks to Raise Barriers to Home Ownership

(EMAILWIRE.COM, March 09, 2007 ) SACRAMENTO, CALIF — Local Congressman John Doolittle, R-Roseville, recently introduced legislation (HR 480) in Congress that would prohibit banks from making home loans to people who do not have a Social Security number and who want to use the home as a personal residence. For years banks have been able to approve mortgages to foreign-born people if they have an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) issued the Internal Revenue Service for purposes of paying federal taxes.Smaller banks have been making such loans for years, and now large banks such as Citibank and Wells Fargo are planning to enter this sector of the home loan marketplace as well. Foreign-born workers without a Social Security number would still be able to buy a house for cash or with a loan if the property was to be used as an investment property only.Mr. Doolittle has long been a vocal critic of illegal immigration, and, presumably, illegals are the targets of his legislation. But, according to Tim Sandos, President and CEO of the National Association of Hispanic RealEstate Professionals, most of the people who would be affected are immigrants who are in process of getting their U.S. citizenship. This process can be quite lengthy, and can take more than 8 years in many cases.America’s housing market has been suffering a nationwide slowdown since the middle of 2005 and efforts by legislators to impede those who want to buy a home are questioned by many. One commentator, foreclosure expert, Patrick McGilvray, J.D., President of Sacramento-based http://www.TheHomeBuyingCenter.com, had this to say about the legislation, “I find the timing of Congressman Doolittle’s legislation odd considering the challenges facing the California housing market. We have seen declines in homes values across the state and increased foreclosure rates. If people are paying taxes and want to buy a home I do not see the logic in enshrining discrimination in federal law.”The economic effects of illegal immigration in California were recently analyzed by economist Giovanni Peri of the University of California at Davis. Mr. Peri analyzed data from the federal census and the 2004 American Community Survey and concluded that illegal and legal immigration boosted wages for workers in California who were born in the United States. The study by Mr. Peri, entitled “How Immigrants Affect California Employment and Wages” focused on the years 1990 to 2004.One of Peri’s comments about his research is as follows: “The increased supply of migrants is likely to put native workers in jobs where they perform supervisory, managerial, training, and in general interactive and coordinating tasks, which makes them more productive.” Mr. Peri’s report was sponsored by the Public Policy Institute of California, and seems to counteract one of the main arguments anti illegal immigration critics, namely that their presence reduces the wages paid to American workers.The only wage earners identified by Mr. Peri’s report who actually suffered from effects of immigration, legal and illegal, were previous immigrants whose wages declined almost 20 percent during the period of the study.Contact:Patrick McGilvray, J.DTel: 916-920-3278patrick@thehomebuyingcenter.comwww.thehomebuyingcenter.com

Patrick McGilvray, J.D.
Patrick McGilvray, J.D.

patrick@thehomebuyingcenter.com