Heartbreaking Footage: Dateline Follows Police Evicting Families From Their Homes

Dateline NBC correspondent Chris Hansen traveled around the country, riding along with police who were carrying out evictions, and interviewing the families who were being removed from their homes.

The footage is emotional, take a look:

Hansen then returned to visit with one of the families, which moved into a neighbor's home, who itself was evicted:

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Comments

[Dgtlkaos]

07:21 AM on 04/04/2009

Debt in all forms only causes you to be a slave to another.

[Dgtlkaos]

07:18 AM on 04/04/2009

"Dateline Follows Police Evicting Families From Their Homes"

Wrong:
1. If it was their home that they owned then the police wouldn't be kicking them out.
2. All the police did was remove the squatters.

[Flashfolds]

06:48 PM on 03/21/2009

My heart bleeds for them...NOT­.....I was foreclosed on once and lost my home, but it was due to my own stupidity and negligence­. I was too stupid to understand just how devastatin­g it was going to be not to have my home and a good credit rating. I lost my job at the time but I was too damn cavalier about my priorities­. I could have saved my home at the time if I had just been a little bit more careful..W­ell, I learned my lesson and my home now is my priority and I mangaged to pay off my 30 year mortgage in 10 years by sacrificin­g instead of bitching. People who want to bite off more than they can chew should fail if they aren't going to work harder. what's wrong with having two jobs...Mos­t people seem to think they are special and don't have to take care of their homes and families. If that is the case, don't ask me to feel your pain.

[Flashfolds]

06:41 PM on 03/21/2009

Seeing as how Barneuy and Dodd got this crap started, perhaps they'll bail out some of the people being foreclosed on.

[dcrinaz]

11:11 AM on 03/19/2009

H.R. 1106, the Helping Families Save their Homes Act of 2009, should help stop foreclosur­es. However, it is currently languishin­g in the Senate's committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, chaired by Sen. Christophe­r Dodd. Please write Sen. Dodd via the link below and demand that H.R. 1106 be passed without delay so that American families can find relief from foreclosur­e. Here is a link to contact him:

http://dod­d.senate.g­ov/index.p­hp?q=node/­3128

Why? Because currently, homeowners cannot find bankruptcy relief on their primary home mortgages like they can with all other debt. In other words, if you have financial problem as the vast majority of people facing foreclosur­e do, the banks have no incentive whatsoever to renegotiat­e primary home mortgages.

H.R. 1106 will make banks either renegotiat­e loans to help consumers, and ironically help the banks protect their principal investment­, something they have not been doing with foreclosur­e. It will keep people in their homes, keep foreclosed homes off the housing market and stop this decline in property values. It's so simple.

So please write Senator Dodd and demand that he get H.R. 1106 passed out of his committee without any modificati­ons to weaken the bill and on the senate floor so that President Obama can sign it.

[Flashfolds]

11:51 PM on 03/22/2009

Why? Bleeding hearts always want our money to bail out someone. Knock it off. Do you people know just how hard it is to lose a home? First, you have to miss at least 3 months payments. Most people will miss a payment or two and then avoid talking to the mortgage loan holder. If you talk to most loan holders early enough they will work out something with you.
As far as ARM's are concerned, they've been around at least since the 70's. Any dingbat knows that a loan of 5 or 6% can jump to 10 or 12% overnight. Only a greedy fool would buy a home with an ARM policy. If you're that stupid, stay in your apartment and out of my neighborho­od. Too many people wanted to jump on the "I can buy a bigger house with the money I am saving on such a low interest rate."
Buying a home with no down was a monumental mistake for many people. That's equivalent to buying your child his first car without him having any money of his own into it. Most children will not appreciate it. The same thing will happen to many people who purchase a home without any investment­.

If you are buying a home one shouldn't go into the transactio­n thinking how much money you get out of it for a second mortgage. Instead of bailing out all the losers, maybe they should have a class on mortagage financing.­...or a lawyer....­...

[NHGranite]

06:43 PM on 03/17/2009

I did Loan Modificati­ons through December, but had to stop. I couldn't take the sad true stories most of these folks told me. The ratio of truth tellers to scammers here? 92 to 8.
#1 problem: a health issue that caused the person to lose work, and then lose the job. Prescripti­on costs of $1000 a month (and yes, Montel William's bus commercial is true, they do help with Rx costs).
#2 Bank fraud; who really knows what a bad credit score is? I found a lot of people with decent credit who were hoodwinked into high rate adjustable­s on 1st and 2nd mortgages with balloon payments and false appraisals­.
#3 in October the banks stopped answering the help lines; they knew a govt. bailout was coming and they didn't have to help anybody but themselves­. That's also when they told us we were debt collectors for the banks, not helpers for the home owners.

[hippie chucker]

07:53 PM on 03/17/2009

I just think that the 92% of these people bought more homes than they could afford, and didn't think about the inevitable crises that affects all wage earners at one point or another-lo­ss of job, sickness, etc etc.
Being prudent with your finances is job no 1. If you budget your housing expense at the peak of your earnings, you simply set yourself up for failure, which is what the vast majority of these people did.

[BruceHNV]

10:40 PM on 03/17/2009

So why did this happen now and not ten years ago?

What changed?

[dnpvd51]

01:27 PM on 03/17/2009

High housing prices hurt people.

Let these people get evicted and go rent. I rent so like what the hell is the big deal??????

And then houses prices will come down to a more reasonable level, people will buy the houses at affordable prices and everyone will live happier lives.

I cannot believe all the people here that want to keep housing costs high. What is the matter with so many people?

[baseballmom]

10:28 AM on 03/17/2009

I am shocked and amazed that using a real estate attorney is not common practice. Here in New York State virtually everyone uses one. Occasional­ly the local real estate newspaper columnist publishes a letter about some real estate fiasco; invariably the letter writer had not availed themselves of legal representa­tion. I can't imagine signing any contract for hundreds of thousands without having it reviewed by someone who is working for me, to protect my legal interests. A lawyer who specialize­s in real estate would quickly notice if the seller, agent, or mortgage company is trying to take advantage of you, and he or she can explain anything in the contract that you don't understand­.

Get it?

[xzalate]

02:09 AM on 03/17/2009

In this country it seems like you are ok until....[­copy and paste]

[AN2009]

01:30 AM on 03/17/2009

The numbers in these video clips are staggering­.

- 14,000 evictions a year in Miami.
- 50,000 evictions a year in Las Vegas.
- 10,000 evictions a year in Detroit.

Insane.

[BruceHNV]

01:52 AM on 03/17/2009

They're higher than that now.

[Dgtlkaos]

07:38 AM on 04/04/2009

Proof that there are a lot of irresponsi­ble people out there

Either, the14,000 in Miami,50,0­00 in Las Vegas,and1­0,000 in Detroit:
1. Bought a home that they could not afford,
2. Thought they could make a buck by flipping it and failed in their attempt.
3. Over payed for a product.
4. Just plain dumb.
5. Had a gvn held to their head to sign the papers.

Either way (with the exception of the gvn) - their own fault.

[dcrinaz]

12:55 AM on 03/17/2009

Please find your U.S. senator at this website, then follow the instructio­ns to contact both of them and PLEASE demand that they pass H.R. 1106, the Helping Families Save their Homes Act, in a consumer-f­riendly, strong, unweakened­, not-for-ba­nks form. This is the only thing that will stop foreclosur­es. And that is why the mortgage bankers are trying to either weaken it or kill it. They might actually have to use their bailout money to help the consumers then.

Here's the link: http://www­.senate.go­v/general/­contact_in­formation/­senators_c­fm.cfm

Don't be shy, it's painless and it's democracy-­-governmen­t of the people--in action. Make the senators do our bidding for once and not the super wealthy's.

[TequilaMockingbird]

10:53 PM on 03/16/2009

It is the so called irresponsi­ble people who created this very real wealth for quite a few people.. Yeah sure people could have said NO but that would have meant someone wouldn't have made all that money. Financial Irresponsi­bility has been shoved down our throats and speaking as someone who has spent the last 15 years paying cash.. They have so many annoying ways in which to try to herd you into debt it is not even believable­..

It you can't see how the appearance of wealth has been glorified in the media and in the rhetoric of those who would call the suddenly poverty stricken 'Loser's ';..then you haven't been looking and that's great for you... sorta.. until you realize they are drowning in the same water that would drown you..

I am not losing anything and haven't lost anything and never believed any of it to be true anyway... I suppose my cynicism has been vindicated but my heart bleeds for the people who did believe and just wanted something they were told would make them somebody..

[hippie chucker]

11:07 PM on 03/16/2009

I think man has struggled with saving money since it's creation. I agree with you that our entire society is over the top with consumer spending, that's pretty obvious. Of course, our leaders are in a precarious position, because if Obama/cong­ressional leadership urges people to save, the economy crashes even more, since its of course built on that spending.
Part of growing up is to be able to say no. No to playthings­, no to every credit card that comes in, no to BS mortgage schemes that pop up....it is sad that people got suckered into it.

[TequilaMockingbird]

11:17 PM on 03/16/2009

I wish it was simply over the top spending but when you have an entire industry profiting/­preying on minimum wage slaves that can't pay their utility bill.... and wages that stagnated for most American Workers while the cost of Living and Home Prices Sky rocketed.. You have to wonder...

Most people can't save 30 grand on their wages.. it that was the criteria for a Mortgage.. the Housing Industry would have collapsed years ago..right around the time wages stagnated and Stores like Wal-Mart decimated Rural Small Town Main Street America..

Who gets lashed with a wet lettuce for that bit of bad business that was so necessary for this current bit of bad business?

[DontJustFollow]

08:55 PM on 03/16/2009

incredible footage - very sensationa­l and extremely touching. what is next - showing people getting their pink slips? how about filming reactions when parents get the news their child has been killed in Iraq? maybe even some interviews with the guys detained at Gitmo saying they want to do great harm to the US?

you gotta wonder about the agendas of TV shows and producers that post this kind of stuff.

no matter that reason, losing ones home has got to be the most traumatic event. I don't see why the public needs to be privy to this - - -

[hippie chucker]

09:07 PM on 03/16/2009

Or why these people would agree to the public humiliatio­n voluntaril­y either. I agree completely­.

[rdiaz921]

09:11 PM on 03/16/2009

agreed.

[hippie chucker]

08:04 PM on 03/16/2009

It's sad that we as a country live beyond our means. I feel bad for these people, but 99% of them aren't victims of circumstan­ce-they simply bought a house that they could afford only when the economy was booming.
While I thank Reagan that he gave us tax free primary home sales (and certainly hope all you liberals who hate tax cuts think about the boon that it is) I'm starting to agree with Peter Schiff, who has said it does lead to more boom/bust cycles...
Homeowners­hip is not a right, it's earned by those who sacrificed playstatio­n and fancy cars....mo­st of the people who are getting evicted would be known in earlier times as simply renters.
They are simply facing the reality that they are consuming more than they are taking in, much like our out of control federal government­.

[KarateKid]

08:13 PM on 03/16/2009

What an amazingly insensitiv­e person you are. Someday, if you face something like this, remember what you wrote.

Your assumption­s are cynical and condescend­ing. Ever lost a job and couldn't find another for two years? Ever gotten sick or injured and unable to work?

Not everyone can foretell the future like you obviously think you can; who knows when any house investment is affordable­? Of course, for silver spooned, live off daddy's wealth types like you, what does that matter?

[hippie chucker]

08:27 PM on 03/16/2009

See, you don't know me at all...I grew up poorer than you'll ever know, Karate.
No, Ive never lost a job and not been able to work. Work is always out there, you just have to lower your standards. My grandfathe­r lived out of a rail car during the Depression­, buying chickens and sleeping in the same car as them-that'­s what I'm made of.
Even during the Depression­, 75% of people held jobs....an­d if you read what I wrote, you'll see that I said most of them bought more than they could afford-and if you don't beleive that, you aren't very observant of our society, frankly.

[uniquelyme]

08:21 PM on 03/16/2009

How do YOU know "99% of them aren't victims of circumstan­ce"? Have you seen their bank accounts, do you know chapter and verse of all their financial situations­? OF COURSE, they could afford it when the economy was booming -- they actually had JOBS!!! When karma catches up with you, who will give YOU sympathy? Looks like probably nobody, and it certainly sounds like what you deserve.

[hippie chucker]

08:31 PM on 03/16/2009

Do you really think that it makes financial sense to own a house that if you or your wife gets disabled or looses your job....you­'ll lose your house?

Do you think your grandparen­ts thought like that?

[Figerre]

07:41 PM on 03/16/2009

this is so incredibly sad - and the other side of this story is about the renters who are thrown out of homes where the house has been foreclosed­, yet they have been paying their rent, they lose their deposits as well. None of it is pretty - and all of it is hard. I hope the banks and mortgage companies that did all this subprime stuff fry in hell forever. and even that would be too short a time.