PolitiFact.com
Statements about Housing
Rick Santorum

Rick Santorum

Mostly False

You might remember that housing bubble

Florida's economy "became a bad economy ... because of a huge spike in oil prices in the summer of 2008."

Marcia Fudge

Marcia Fudge

Half-True

Data issues hinder this claim

"More than a quarter of mortgage borrowers are underwater, and 11 percent of all homes are vacant."

Theresa Price

Theresa Price

False

Fallacious foreclosure factoid

"Rhode Island is leading our nation in foreclosures."

Tom Hughes

Tom Hughes

Mostly True

How do you define the Pearl?

Twenty percent of housing in Portland’s Pearl District is ‘affordable.’

Rod Smith

Rod Smith

Mostly True

Glug glug glug ...

"Today 46 percent of all Floridians owe more on their home than it is worth."

Johnny Isakson

Johnny Isakson

True

Better reach for your wallet

"The average homeowner spends more than $2,000 each year on energy costs – more than on either real estate taxes or homeowners insurance."

Democratic National Committee

Democratic National Committee

Half-True

Edits out 'and come back up'

Says Mitt Romney’s housing policy is, "Don’t try and stop the foreclosure process. Let it run its course and hit the bottom."

Nina Turner

Nina Turner

True

Recession's impact hits home

"The collective net worth of Americans has taken a $5.5 trillion hit ... mainly due to plummeting home values."

Brad Avakian

Brad Avakian

False

Try over three years

Says "We do about 300 investigations a year into housing discrimination and in recent years have put about $150,000 of damages into the pockets of individuals who have been treated unfairly."

New Jersey Sierra Club

New Jersey Sierra Club

Half-True

Penalty on the play

Says New Jersey is "losing 50 football fields of open space to development every day and the more we develop upstream the more flooding we have downstream."

Michael Bloomberg

Michael Bloomberg

True

Moving downtown

"Over the past 10 years, the number of people living in Lower Manhattan has nearly doubled. In fact, Lower Manhattan has added more people over the last 10 years than Atlanta, Dallas and Philadelphia combined."

Yolanda Adrean

Yolanda Adrean

Half-True

Glut of Property is Not the Only Problem

"We [the city of Atlanta] are overbuilt on housing."

Thaddeus McCotter

Thaddeus McCotter

Mostly True

It's not definitive, but evidence points that way

"When lenders foreclose on homes, they typically suffer losses that exceed 30 percent of the value of the home."

Gary Schaer

Gary Schaer

True

New name, new regulations

"Hair stylists are required to undergo more government scrutiny than foreclosure consultants."

Newt Gingrich

Newt Gingrich

False

No such requirement

Says the new Dodd-Frank financial law requires a 20 percent down payment to buy a house.

Shaun Donovan

Shaun Donovan

Half-True

Stable compared to the housing freefall, anyway

Housing prices dropped for the 30 months prior to Barack Obama taking office, "and they have stabilized, they've been about flat since the president came in."

Rick Scott

Rick Scott

True

The governor speaks Canadian

"Almost 10 percent of Canadians came to visit Florida last year ... (Canadians) buy 7.4 percent of our homes in the state."

Sam Adams

Sam Adams

False

It's the exception, not the rule

The city’s 30 percent set aside for affordable housing in urban renewal areas is calculated citywide -- not district by district

Sylvester Turner

Sylvester Turner

Mostly True

90 percent don't want state funding for nursing homes cut

"Ninety percent of Texans say they do not want the nursing homes to close. It polls higher than anything else."

Babur Lateef

Babur Lateef

Half-True

Accurate numbers, inaccurate blame

Since Corey Stewart became chairman in November 2006, unemployment is up 150% and average home price sales are down $150,000.

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