DS News - U.S. Bank

92 CALIFORNIA The Challenges of the 'Housing Burdened' More than one in three California house- holds struggles to afford basic needs, and about four in 10 are "housing burdened," spending more than 30 percent of their incomes on housing, according to a report from the United Way's United Ways of California chapter. e United Way created a Real Cost Mea- sure, taking into account the cost of housing, food, healthcare, childcare, and transporta- tion in each county in California. About 3.3 million households across the state do not earn enough to meet the Real Cost Measure and are struggling to meet their basic needs, according to "Struggling to Stay Afloat: e Real Cost Measure in California 2018." Economic struggles impact all races and ethnicities across the state of California. More than 1.5 million Latino households, more than 1 million white households, about 429,000 Asian households, and 269,000 African-American households earn below the Real Cost Measure and qualify as housing burdened, according to the United Way. Also, seven out of 10 single mothers fall below the Real Cost Measure. Nine out of 10 households that do not meet the Real Cost Measure are employed, leading the United Way to suggest "the challenge is raising pay rather than finding a job." For those who fall below the Real Cost Measure in California, housing is a particular burden. "e comparison between what families report spending on housing and their overall incomes can be sobering," the United Way report states. While California families who earn above the Real Cost Measure spend about 22 percent of their incomes on housing, those living in poverty spend an average of 79 percent of their incomes just on housing. ose who earn above the national poverty line but below the Real Cost Measure spend an average of 46 percent of their incomes on housing. Households that spend more than 30 percent of their incomes on housing are consistently considered "housing burdened" by economists. In total, about 72 percent of house- holds below the Real Cost Measure fall into this category, according to the United Way. "A severe shortage of affordable housing is a brute fact in most California communities," the United Way report stated. Tax credits and other subsidies for low- them. e second is to implement refundable federal renters' credit, which the United Way says "would be an effective way to improve prospects for struggling households at scale, as well as to rebalance some of the tilt in federal housing subsidies that have grown to increas- ingly favor upper-income households." e report states that housing has a greater impact than just a family's monthly budget. "Housing plays a central role in the fate of struggling households," according to the report. "e quality and location of housing for struggling households affects virtually every aspect of their lives, so improvements here can have impact well beyond reducing financial stress." Pavaso Partners With Closing Exchange for Mobile Closing Services California-based e Closing Exchange announced that they have partnered with Pavaso, the provider of a collaborative e-closing platform, to deliver nationwide mobile closing services through e Closing Exchange's network of trained and certified signing agents. e two technology leaders partnered to expand Pavaso's signing service coverage and system expertise leveraging e Closing Exchange's training- and performance-man- agement capabilities across the nation. "Our partnership with Pavaso will expand their signing agent network with our vetted, trained, and tested notary network," said Alan Frelix, CEO of e Closing Exchange. "Our mutual clients, including lenders and title agents, will benefit from our proven training capabilities to train and certify our signing agent panel on the Pavaso system." Frelix continued, "is partnership expands e Closing Exchange's ability to provide its clients with expanded choices for how the signer wants to conduct its closing, includ- ing fully digital closings, hybrid closings, and traditional mobile notary closings, leveraging the nation's most comprehensive, vetted, and trained panel of notaries along with e Clos- ing Exchange's communicative service model and technology." "We are excited to partner with e Clos- ing Exchange." said Nancy Pratt, VP Partner Relations and Government Affairs for Pavaso. "Our focus is to provide best-in-class service on all loans closed on the Pavaso platform, as well as to ensure that the borrower has an excep- income housing fall short in California. First, many of the low-income units built are geared toward households earning 60 or 80 percent of the median income. Many households fall below this threshold. Secondly, a lack of fund- ing for federal rent vouchers has made them unavailable to about three-fourths of eligible households. With an estimated 3.5 million additional low-income housing units needed to meet existing demand, "it should be clear that we cannot build our way out of the affordability problem," according to the United Way. While housing issues facing California's working, low-income residents are complex, the United Way does offer at least a couple solutions to ease the housing burden for lower- income Americans. First, the United Way points out that more than 60 percent of subsidies for home- ownership go to households with income over $100,000. Also, for every $1 in taxpayer money that goes to rental support, $3 is spent to sup- port homeownership, which is out of reach for many low-income Americans. e United Way suggests increasing sup- port for lower-income renters in two ways. e first is fully funding federal housing vouchers so that all eligible families can obtain CHRISTOPHER ROCKEY Former national real estate trainer for Fidelity National Financial. Give me a call, let's talk REO! Serving Sacramento, Placer, El Dorado, Santa Clara, and Contra Costa for more than 20 years. Rockey@RHomeSales.com 530.420.LIST ChristopherRockey.com YOUR QUEST FOR COMPLETE REO SERVICES ENDS HERE From BPO and occupancy checks to security and maintenance, we care for your property the way you do.

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