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Members of ACTION testified in support of House Bill 103 Fair Lending through Land Contracts Act, at the Ohio House Civil Justice Committee on Tuesday, May 21 at the Ohio Statehouse.
This was the second hearing for the legislation, which is sponsored by Mahoning County State Representatives Michele Lepore-Hagan and Don Manning.
ACTION’s Racism Task Force identified this form of predatory lending in 2017 as a longstanding practice to exploit families with limited means, particularly communities of color. In 2018, ACTION took action and drove to Vision Property Management headquarters, an out-of-state predatory land contract firm, that no longer sells land contracts in Youngstown. In February 2019, ACTION worked with Youngstown Mayor Jamael Tito Brown and City Council to unanimously pass an ordinance designed to stop the exploitation and manipulation of families through predatory land installment contracts.
More than 20 members of the task force were in attendance. Multiple members provided oral testimony, while one member submitted written testimony. The ACTION members that testified included: Pastor Derrick Anderson of Jerusalem Baptist Church and Treasurer of ACTION; Ian Beniston, Vice President of ACTION; Basia Adamczak, Youngstown Seventh Ward Councilperson; Kalitha Williams, Project Director of Asset Building for Policy Matters Ohio; and Daphine Carter Hawkins, Chair, ACTION Housing Task Force.