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Grant Shapps signals an end to squatters rights

Housing Minister Grant Shapps has today “locked the door” on squatters’ rights for good, by strengthening the Government’s advice to homeowners looking to protect their properties. (continues…)
Department for Communities and Local Government: Housing news articles

Tags: Grant, Rights, Shapps, Signals, squatters

Gay Marriage Legalisation in Us States Signals Cultural Shift

A significant cultural shift appears to be under way in the US in favour of same-sex marriages, with two landmark decisions over the past week and eight states poised to vote on bills later this year.

Gay campaigners are celebrating a vote in the Vermont legislature yesterday and an Iowa supreme court ruling last week, bringing to four the number of states where same-sex marriages are legal.

The mood contrasts with the despondency in November when the public in California overturned a brief period in which same-sex marriages were allowed and voted for a definition of marriage as being only between a man and woman.

Evan Wolfson, founder and executive director of the New York-based Freedom to Marry organization, described the events of the last week as wonderful and said the dynamic has been changing, with the public coming to see gay people in a different way.

The presidency of George Bush was marked by social conservatism, often based on the agenda of the Christian right, but the victory of Barack Obama in November has coincided with an apparent rejection of much of that agenda in favor of greater liberalization. “Eight years after the most polarizing politics of Bush-Rove and orchestrated attacks on gay people, I think what happened in 2008 was the American people said they have had enough of divisiveness,” Wolfson said.

Up until last week, only two states recognised same-sex marriages: Connecticut and Massachusetts. Many other states accept civil unions but not marriage.

Vermont is important because it is the first legislature to pass such a bill. Legal marriage for gays in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Iowa was the result of court rulings. The Vermont bill cannot be overruled by its governor and the first gay marriages are scheduled for September.

Wolfson said: “Legislatures in several states are considering bills now and we are hoping to see movement in several of them over the next few months.”

The next is likely to be New Hampshire, whose house of representatives has voted in favour and the bill has now gone to its senate. In Maine, the state legislature is scheduled to begin committee hearings later this month. In New York and New Jersey, both their governors have promised to sign any bills passed by their legislatures.

Wolfson, who founded his organization in 2003, sees the California ruling as a turning point. “California was a wake-up call. People realized that we had been too complacent.”

Other states laying the groundwork for bills in favor of same-sex marriages include Illinois, Washington state, Maryland and Rhode Island.

In another development, the District of Columbia’s council voted in favor of recognising same-sex marriages performed elsewhere. It will be subject to another vote later this month before going to the mayor, Aidrian Fenty, who said he will sign it.

The Washington DC vote is subject to a congressional review, which will mean it could go in front of national politicians for a decision.

Organizations opposed to gay marriage held press conferences today predicting that campaigners in favor of same-sex marriage will find it harder in at least 29 US states that would require constitutional amendments to reverse the bans. They also claimed that the decisions in Iowa and Vermont would energize those opposed to same-sex marriages.

According to polls, the number of Americans in favor of same-sex marriages, though still a minority, has grown in the last five years from about 20% to over 30%.

In California, the supreme court is expected to rule in coming months on November’s ballot. But gay rights campaigners hold out little hope, on the basis of initial hearings.

Tags: Cultural, Legalisation, Marriage, Shift, Signals, States

Small Business Financing and Mixed Signals

Small business financing and working capital loans are producing mixed signals for commercial borrowers. These mixed signals are due to a variety of financial and economic issues, but the end result is likely to be confusion for small business owners. Business lenders are increasingly reducing or canceling commercial lines of credit, turning down new requests for business financing and declining to refinance commercial real estate loans. In contrast to their actual lending practices, most lenders have announced that they are lending normally to businesses.

Looking at this perplexing situation from a lending perspective, it is likely that most commercial lenders truly want to be more active in providing small business financing programs than they currently are. Many banks have been forced to increase their liquid assets to satisfy government standards because they are overcapitalized. In most cases, this literally forces such lenders to make fewer loans and to cancel some existing loans. In other cases, lenders have depended excessively on short-term commercial financing sources and now find themselves short of capital to make loans because their own business funding sources are proving to be inadequate.

Having enough cash flow to support daily operational requirements is a critical need from the perspective of a small business owner. The inability to borrow needed funds on an ongoing basis will quickly produce serious consequences for any business because very few businesses are debt-free. The average business owner probably does not understand why they cannot get adequate working capital or commercial real estate financing from their existing bank. The primary mission for commercial borrowers is likely to involve locating new sources of capital once they realize that their current lenders might not be up to the task of helping their business financially.

Because there appears to be an adequate supply of new lending sources to fill the void left by the exit of many banks and other lenders from commercial lending, there is good news emerging from this confusing and complicated lending climate for small businesses. A prominent commercial lender recently announced that they needed more capital in order to continue making small business loans. It has become clear that there are other lending sources sufficient for solving the immediate problem, recognizing that the failure of this lender would be an inconvenience to businesses using their services.

Despite the confusion and mixed signals from lenders, business owners are in better shape than they probably realize to make it through the current small business financing chaos. In order to increase the chances of their business surviving, borrowers should take a more active role in working capital management.

Tags: Business, Financing, Mixed, Signals, Small