Protesters in pink pig suits hammed it up Tuesday morning outside the headquarters of MDC Holdings to oppose tax breaks for homebuilders.
About 20 protesters demonstrated against the inclusion of tax relief for the industry within the Foreclosure Prevention Act, legislation initially intended to help struggling home owners.
The protesters also have targeted Toll Brothers, Lennar, KB Home and other large builders and plan a protest in Washington, D.C., as the House takes up the legislation, said Jacob Hay, a spokesman for the Laborers’ International Union of North America, which organized the action.
MDC, based in Denver, is the parent of Richmond American Homes, the nation’s 10th-largest builder based on closings in 2006. The publicly traded company held its annual shareholders meeting Tuesday.
The company did not respond to the protest in a news release on its annual meeting or via interview requests. It did provide protesters with pastries.
Congressional estimates forecast that federal coffers could suffer a $15 billion hit this year if homebuilders are allowed to offset their large losses beyond the two previous years now allowed.
“They are being greedy,” Hay said. “They helped cause the mortgage crisis, and now they are going to Congress asking for a bailout.”
Reckless lending and building practices contributed to a housing bust that has cost the nation more than 350,000 construction jobs since 2007 and put 3 million homeowners at risk of foreclosure, Hay said.
HomeAmerican Mortgage, MDC’s lending arm, boosted the number of subprime loans it originated from 746 in 2005 to 2,233 in 2006, a 199 percent jump. During the same period, prime loans increased only 3.6 percent to 9,809.
Offering tax breaks will reward homebuilders that dump their existing inventory of unsold homes to generate losses, driving down home values for working families, union groups argue.
At their meeting, MDC shareholders approved a proposal that makes it easier for executives to receive performance bonuses by a vote of 23.3 million for and 13.5 million against.
They also agreed to reprice stock options left worthless by a sharp decline in the stock’s value. The company amended the proposal to exclude top executives from the repricing.
Aldo Svaldi: 303-954-1410 or asvaldi@denverpost.com
