Politics on the Hudson

New Yorkers For Responsible Lending continued their push today to get the state Legislature to pass legislation to better protect borrowers hurt by the subprime loan crisis.

The group warned that New York has yet to see the worst of the housing crisis, saying that New York now has 157 new foreclosure filings every day.

“It would be a scandal for the legislature to end the session without passing subprime lending and foreclosure legislation,” said Sarah Ludwig, co-executive director of the Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project in New York City.

The state Assembly earlier this month that calls for a moratorium on foreclosures for one-year and other tighter provisions on lenders. Gov. Paterson also proposed measures to deal with the crisis, such as bolstering the state’s Anti-Predatory Lending law and require negotiations between lenders and borrowers before foreclosure.

Yet the Assembly, Senate and Paterson have yet to reach compromise, and the legislative session ends in late-June.

The Senate held a hearing earlier this month on Paterson’s plan, and a Senate spokesman said Paterson’s bill will be the “basis of negotiations for a bill to hopefully become law before the end of session.”

According to RealtyTrac, there were approximately 14,000 foreclosure filings registered in New York during the first three months of 2008, a 40 percent increase from the same period in 2007.

There were approximately 11,600 foreclosure filings among the top 10 counties during the first three months of the year; Queens and Brooklyn accounted for 32 percent and Long Island accounting for 24 percent. In upstate, Monroe and Albany counties were among the hardest hit.

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