Stopping the Every-13-Second Foreclosure Clock

In America, a family is losing its home every 13 seconds.

This appalling statistic brings home the punishment working families are taking from the foreclosure crisis, a crisis acting like a cancer on the economic recovery. We at ACORN applauded President Obama's "Making Home Affordable" plan to stop 3 to 4 million of the expected 9 million foreclosures over the next four years, but more needs to be done - much more.

As documented in a new report that ACORN released Wednesday, "Road to Rescue", strong community organizing resulted in Philadelphia pioneering the most successful anti-foreclosure program in the country.

By requiring lenders seeking a foreclosure to sit down with the distressed homeowner and mediate a resolution, the Philadelphia Foreclosure Diversion Program has succeeded in keeping 78% of families in their homes. If those families had been in other jurisdictions they would have lost their homes to foreclosure. It turns out that forcing mortgage servicers to review each case and explore foreclosure-avoidance solutions like affordable modifications - which is, after all, their job - results in more families keeping their homes!

Given a success rate like that in a city like Philadelphia, it is clear that mandatory mediation holds the key for solving the foreclosure crisis - but only if it is replicated correctly and gets a financial boost from the feds.

And maybe the feds are paying attention. Here's President Obama on his foreclosure plan:

"In addition, as part of the recovery plan I signed into law yesterday, we are going to award $2 billion in competitive grants to communities that are bringing together stakeholders and testing new and innovative ways to prevent foreclosures. Communities have shown a lot of initiative, taking responsibility for this crisis when many others have not. Supporting these neighborhood efforts is exactly what we should be doing."

He's talking about the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, which helps communities deal with the fallout from the foreclosure crisis by purchasing properties and rehabbing them to prevent neighborhood blight and decay.

Unfortunately, despite the President's wise words, these funds currently can't be used to go upstream and prevent foreclosures. Yet we continue to send hundreds of billions of dollars to Wall Street. It's time to stop treating the symptoms and start treating the cause. It's time for a major commitment to invest in local programs that help homeowners. It's time for a major federal investment in state and local mandatory mediation programs.

Here's why. The successful Philadelphia program includes four key elements:

1) Mandatory participation for lenders,
2) Extensive community outreach including door-to-door canvassing,
3) A low threshold for participation by homeowners, and
4) Utilization of the expertise of housing counselors.

This costs money. Not the billions we're shipping to Wall Street, but generally more than state and local governments have in these troubled economic times. And a federal investment in mandatory mediation via local and state governments would help twice. Once by providing funds that circulate immediately and once by preventing further erosion of the tax base due to falling property values.

The Philadelphia model is catching on in hard hit areas across the country. For example, foreclosure-rocked Orange County, FL recently implemented its own mandatory mediation program.

If we want to end this crisis and take on one of the core issues contributing to the economic meltdown, we need widespread adoption of programs and can replicate Philadelphia's smashing success.

Share this report with your local and state elected officials and judges, tell them about Philadelphia's smashing success, and ask them what they're doing to force banks to behave and do their share in stopping foreclosures. Tell your federal representatives about mandatory mediation, and ask them why for every $1000 we fork over to Wall Street, we spend only a measly $1 on foreclosure prevention.

Join ACORN's campaign to address the foreclosure crisis by becoming a Home Defender. And if you or someone you know is facing foreclosure, get in touch with us for housing help right away.

The Philadelphia program is a clear example of how, despite the complexity of the foreclosure crisis, there are simple, but powerful solutions, often won through the insistence and engagement of average citizens, to this issue. Indeed, community organizing created a program that can eliminate better than three-quarters of owner-occupied foreclosures.

We have the right solution, now we have to spread it!

Comments

[Sean6399]

I've never been able to afford a house. I live in the SF bay area where the median home price is somewhere in the neighborhood of $500,000. That I means I've rented for my whole adult life. Yet I still have paid many thousands of dollars in taxes. Now all I hear about is the demand that government save homeowners. What is the moral justification for taxing me, a renter, to keep homeowners in property they can not afford?

[jsgaetano]

"In America, a family is losing its home every 13 seconds."

And yet, the conservatives in charge of the banks still can't figure out why they are going under.

[mbaty]

I never understood why it wouldn't be in everyone's best interest to negotiate. A home loan is already 30-years long, so work with the person's budget, and for god's sake stop acting like these people were foolish, living beyond their means--30 years means it's beyond your means! 3 years is beyond your means, that's why you get a loan and make payments. It's the rate of repayment that matters, and that can easily be adjusted--or it should be easy to adjust. We don't need to have a bunch of empty homes and a bunch of homeless people. It's silly and callous. And if it has to be mandatory for there to be negotiations, then so be it.

[KrugnacTheMagnificent]

I'm looking to buy a home in the next month or two.

Having a few more foreclosures fresh on the market to choose from would be great.

Why are foreclosures a problem, again?

As far as I can tell, all it is doing is:

Helping to deflate the real estate bubble. (good)
Reducing property tax burdens for homeowners. (good)
Allowing banks to lock in losses rather than have toxic waste on their books. (good)

What's the problem? As far as the heart strings go, I don't see why someone that made bad economic decisions is entitled to a house more than I am, if I have cash available to purchase it. People that have overstretched should change their behavior and live within their means, not double down on their unsustainable lifestyle.

[MajorKong]

That's nice.

Be sure to buy one in the neighborhood with all the foreclosed, boarded up homes that are attracting crime and squatters. You could call the police, but hey with the loss of property taxes it might be a while before they get around to doing anything about it.

[Lemmy]

The main problem is that people who bought homes they couldn't afford are now infecting the rest of us with thier mistake. Pony up your wallet because the liberals are using this "crisis" to further the government subsidy of home ownership.

[KrugnacTheMagnificent]

Infecting me with more affordable homes?

This isn't swine flu...

[Tellurider]

The response to the foreclosure crisis is pathetic, gutless and shameful.
We have watched as foreclosures have continued to increase at an increasing pace while our government has given away nearly a Trillion Dollars to Wall Street, Big Banks, Insurance Companies, while doing absolutely NOTHING to help families keep and stay in their homes.
Remember the HOPE plan that was designed by a consortium of Big Banks and Big Mortgage companies--well of the 4 million loans that were going to be rewritten there have been less than 40.
The NSP is just another plan to bail out banks and has not and will not help the people.
Big Government has failed--fa­iled--fail­ed.
People are losing hope and we are now truly facing a call spreading across the country that we can not trust or believe in our government to do anything for us--and we must organize and take care of ourselves.
So, what happens when people just stop making their mortgage payments--even if they can?
People all across the country are being told by mortgage counselor to stop paying--NOW.
And, renegotiating with the banks is hopeless. Try it for yourself and you will find that they are unreasonable, bullies and heartless, which is why more than 60% are back in foreclosure in 90 days. Applicants are forced to agree to a deal that they know is a "Hail Mary".
Look out your window--how many For Sale signs to you see?

[Virgo1965]

Sorry people, but I have seen, read and heard about many of the people losing their homes and they were people who did not qualify for mortgages, lied on applications, did not meet the income requirements, did not read their

Next time, maybe they will buy a home or better yet, a mobile home, they can afford. Now I am stuck paying for their stupidity, greed, selfishness, lies, and irresponsiblity. I lost my job for over a year, yet used my 401k to meet my mortgage, car, and utility payments. I did what I had to do to keep my home and my car, and my health coverage (which I went out and got after losing my employer's health benefits), never once getting a handout except for the unemployment benefits for which I was entitled.

Get real. No one is entitled in this country to a home. You earn it and you pay for it. PERIOD!

[BBackSoon]

I am currently experiencing problems. I bout a home I could afford, and then my wife lost her job, had trouble finding anything and when she did she got sick for a couple of months. She is now back to work at a decent job but we are behind and it is not easy to get back ahead.

Also when I bought my home my weekly health Insurance premium was $24 for Family, It is now $146. My home insurance was $200 a month now it is over $400 a month. Car insurance is up. My electricity has tripled since I bought my home. Every bill I have has gone up but my house payment, if you don’t count the escrow.

Now I may not have planned as well as I should but I did not overbuy, or purchase a house I knew I could not afford, I simply purchased a house during the Bush years when business was able to skrew me at will.

And at the moment you have not given me a dime and I don’t expect you to. I would simply like my mortgage company to work with me to let me keep my house and get back to normal. Things like putting my missed payments at the backend of the loan and maybe even giving me a couple of months with no payments to get my other bills in order. I don’t expect anyone to pay my bills but me.

[MajorKong]

Ah yes, another conservative who thinks they invented the work ethic.

On a micro scale, maybe person-x was irresponsible and deserves to lose their home. Fair 'nuff.

On a macro scale, 9 million foreclosures over a 4-year period is destructive to the financial system, the economy, local governments and neighborhoods. You can pretty much kiss your property values goodbye if you get enough vacant homes in your neighborhood.

[KrugnacTheMagnificent]

Over half of all foreclosures nationwide are happening in California, Nevada, Arizona, and Florida. Those also coincidentally happen to be the areas with the greatest amount of real estate SPECULATION over the last 4-5 years.

I don't see why homeowners around the rest of the country should be subsidizing the speculators. They gambled, and they lost. That's not my problem.

[longboardersurf]

god, I hope I'm there to see Karma get you. You are truly a warm and wonderful human being. Just remember this moment and savor it when the unexpected happens to you. Better yet, print and frame your comments so you'll always have those kind works to live by. And sometime when it's bad for you, pull them down and snuggle up to them

[LiberalBuzz]

Oh the comments on this are going to be very interesting.

I applaud them for trying to keep people in their homes regardless of what's to come in the comments.

[CHR]

I have a solution to some of this foreclosure mess. I have been a successful realtor for 15yrs and am now helping people avoid foreclosure with a short sale. The banks have been a nightmare to deal with. They are completely understaffed to handle the record number of short sales taking place. One listing has been sold 3 different times which has been on the market for 10 months and now we have a CASH offer with no contingencies and we can't reach anyone at bank to negotiate with. They either don't answer or its goes to VM which is full or we finally reach someone and they put us on hold or disconnect us. Yesterday we attempted to reach a lender 12 times with no results. We need to expose this to help people out in dire straights because for whatever issue they are loosing their roof over their heads. The banks need to act now to stimulate the economy in more than one way!!