HOUSING POSITION PAPER, 3/5/10

As of March, 2010, we continue to have a mortgage foreclosure rate of approximately 300,000 units a month with no end in sight.

Despite the claims of a “recovery” and despite the tax-payer funded bailouts of banks and investment firms there is scant evidence that there is any concentrated effort that will enable many hard working families to stay in their homes.

The landscape of our communities has become littered with repossessed homes which continue to destroy the social and economic glue that holds our neighborhoods together.

The banksters who created this human disaster, and were, unlike the homeowners, bailed out with taxpayers money cannot possibly use or sell these homes and show no interest in renting them out. And so these homes too often become broken down or vandalized and decrease the tax base and social fabric of our communities.

Banks and mortgage companies should be FORCED, not asked, but FORCED NOW to renegotiate home loans on reasonable and affordable terms wherever existing residents can show that they can afford the new terms. In other cases, some of these homes should be used as temporary homes for the victims of the massive bank and mortgage company scams, as long as those people can offer proof that they can maintain those homes at the status of valued property in the community.

Ask yourself, would you rather live next to an abandoned, boarded up, and possibly vandalized structure or have a good neighbor who can take pride in their home and your community?