The Honorable Barack Obama President of the United States The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20500Re: The 60 Million Forgotten Victims of the Sub-Prime Mortgage Crisis, Bank Failures, and Home Foreclosures Dear President Obama: Much has been said and written about the mortgage crisis and its impact on both banks and borrowers. And while the "Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan" will, hopefully, go a long way towards stabilizing the housing market, there is one aspect of the problem which has been largely ignored: namely, the failure of banks and defaulting homeowners to pay their share of the common expenses necessary to maintain the Nation's 300,000 condominium, cooperatives and planned developments operated by community associations. As a direct result, innocent unit owners, those who are timely paying their share of the common expenses, are being forced to cover the bad debt for defaulting banks and unit owners. In some cases there just aren't sufficient funds to pay for electricity, ground maintenance, insurance, security, waste management, and other essential services necessary to preserve the property values. To put this into proper perspective, according to the Community Association Institute (www.caionline.org), the value of homes in all associations is estimated at $4 trillion. Estimated annual operating revenue for U.S. community association operated homes, housing 60 million Americans, is more than $41 billion. To a large degree, the assessments paid by the unit owners are going to maintain the collateral of the banks and defaulting unit owners, neither of whom are paying their share of the common expenses. There is a solution to this problem -- banks receiving Federal bailout monies and unit owners offered restructured mortgages at lower interest rates, as a condition of their receiving Federal funds and lower interest rates should be obligated to bring their obligations to their Community Associations current. I trust you will give this matter the important consideration it warrants. Feel free to call upon me if I might be of any assistance in finding a solution to this crisis.
Very truly yours, Gary A. Poliakoff, J.D.Gary Poliakoff biography Mr. Poliakoff, a founding principal of Becker & Poliakoff, P.A., has devoted a significant part of his career to the practice of Community Association law and is considered one of the foremost authorities on the subject. Recognized internationally as an authority on common interest ownership housing, Mr. Poliakoff has been a consultant to State Legislatures and the White House in drafting common interest ownership housing legislation. He served as the American Bar Association's Advisor to the National Conference of Commissioners of Uniform State Laws in its efforts to revise the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act. In addition, at the invitation of the Minister of Economics of the Czech Republic, he addressed the Parliament of the Czech Republic on issues relating to the conversion of State housing to private ownership, and, at the invitation of the Russian Academy of Jurisprudence, has lectured in Moscow on common interest ownership issues. In 1990, Mr. Poliakoff served as a member of the State of Florida Condominium Study Commission and, in 1992 and 1993, as a member and chairman of the State of Florida Advisory Council on Condominiums. About Becker & Poliakoff, P.A. Becker & Poliakoff is a diverse commercial law firm with more than 120 attorneys in 13 Florida offices, New York City and affiliated international offices. Celebrating its thirty sixth (36th) year of serving clients, the firm has seven primary areas of practice: Real Estate, Construction, Community Association, International Trade & Customs, Commercial Litigation, Corporate, Tax & Securities, and Government Law & Lobbying.
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