DOES BILL OF
RIGHTS EXCLUDE
BILLERS' RIGHTS?
Views on how California's enactment of a
Homeowner Bill of Rights has impacted the
market vary along the West Coast.
With Paul A. Leonard
and Rachel Opatik
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Paul A. Leonard directs the California operations of the
Center for Responsible Lending in Oakland. He was
previously an independent policy consultant working on
housing, community development, and social welfare
issues. His research topics included the effectiveness of
national housing preservation policies, gentrification
in American cities, and the impacts of financial
modernization legislation on lending. His clients included the Brookings
Institution Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy, the U.S. Treasury,
the Low Income Investment Fund, the MacArthur Foundation, Bank of
America, and PolicyLink. He also served as acting assistant secretary for policy
development and research and deputy assistant secretary for policy development
at HUD.
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Rachel Opatik is an attorney with Houser & Allison,
APC. She works out of the firm's office in San Diego
County, where foreclosures fell in March to 249, the
lowest point since November 2006. Opatik graduated
from the University of Michigan in 2001, where she
received her Bachelor of Arts degree. She subsequently
obtained her Juris Doctorate from California Western
School of Law in 2006. While in law school, she clerked for an Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission administrative law judge. She also
received the State Bar of California Wiley M. Manual Award for her pro
bono legal work with the California Innocence Project and San Diego Legal
Aid Society. She was admitted to practice law in the state of California in
June 2006.
