Fascism turns to communism

Here is how government regulations helped create the current housing crisis:

The Justice Department has filed a civil lawsuit against the developers of six multifamily housing developments in Sioux Falls, claiming housing discrimination.

According to the complaint, defendants include Equity Homes Inc., PBR LLC, BBR LLC, Shane Hartung, Scott Snoozy, Myron Van Buskirk, Wayne Hansen, Martin McGee and Sertoma Hills Villas Association Inc.

The six complexes are East Briar Apartments, West Briar Apartments, Kensington Apartments, Beverly Gardens Apartments, Sertoma Hills Apartments and Sertoma Hills Villas.

The lawsuit alleges that the developers violated the Fair Housing Act by designing and building units that didn't accommodate the special needs of elderly and disabled tenants.

Defendants have not responded to the complaint.

Here is more on government intervention hurint housing development:

Federal banking regulations are making it difficult for some real estate developers in Sioux Falls to get loans despite the government's massive bank bailout meant to loosen stingy lines of credit.

The greater scrutiny over lending comes as the nation crawls out of an economic slowdown. It is crimping the vital construction sector in Sioux Falls.

The stricter rules went into place last year in response to reckless lenders in some markets who put too much of their portfolios into risky development loans. The national crisis in housing depressed values across the board and exposed those bad loans. Now federal regulators are trying to tighten the purse strings.

But critics say the policies are making it difficult to finance new projects and punishing prudent bankers and developers in places such as South Dakota with far fewer risky players.

"Unfortunately, those regulations are national," said Jon Broek, the president of Equity Homes, a homebuilder in the Sioux Falls area. "They're clamping down on the Midwest when the Midwest didn't commit any sins."

The tension between the intent of the government spending meant to jump-start the economy and the banking system's overseers worried about irresponsibility flared a few weeks ago in Congress. During hearings in the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee, small-business owners and others complained that banks had cut or eliminated credit lines.

Bank examiners are scrutinizing loans in South Dakota, and in some cases they've forced banks to reappraise land and write down the value of assets.

"They're coming in right now and changing all the terms of everything we've developed up to this point," said Darrel Viereck of Viereck Commercial Real Estate. Viereck has been unable to borrow money to develop raw land, and he said banks are demanding "cash calls" - advanced repayments on other loans.

"The biggest developers in the city can't afford to play by those rules," he added.

Comments

[Publius]

Federal regulations that have been in place for years are Communist policies?

I read this story too, and thought about posting it and commenting on lazy landlords who don't care to comply with the law.

Oh, Steve.

[Steve Sibson]

Publis,

Perhaps you should read more than textbooks written by Progressives. You fail to understand the difference between liberty that fosters free markets and protect property rights and the tyranny of state control (which comes in the forms of fascism, socialism, communism, and/or Marxism...and add Hegelian to the list)