This home was foreclosed on. The bank walked away. The scavengers stripped it. Neighboring homes then lost their value – but we can change this, see below.
First, the gravest threat to the well being of this country is the looming, escalating foreclosure crisis. I say this because 29% of all mortgaged homes are underwater (which means their mortgages exceed they appraised, marketable value). In fact, here is the link to a 28 page memo the Fed wrote about it (gotta love the internet). Of course, the loss of $7 trillion dollars in private wealth due to the loss of value in these homes is a serious problem in terms of economic recovery – but also in terms of human futures.
But YOU can actually do something. There is a RALLY tomorrow at NOON on the State House Stairs. MAAPL (Massachusetts Alliance Against Predatory Lending) has all the info on the Action Alerts portion of its website. To summarize, the Rally is at Noon on the State House Steps – the sponsors are Occupy Boston, MAAPL and the National Lawyers Guild.
The following hearing is in Room B-1 in the State House starting at 1:00 PM. Here is a list of the four bills that could make a serious difference regarding the 88,000 properties under threat in Massachusetts (this link gets you to the actual legislation): http://www.maapl.info/legislation.html
These bills are:
1.S767/H493: To prevent unnecessary evictions and vacancies. Former homeowners should be allowed to pay rent unless there is a good reason to evict. Lead Sponsor – Sen. James B. Eldridge, Rep.Jeffrey Sanchez. Note the MAAPL.info link above has the actual legislation as a .pdf linked. Title of Bill “An Act to Prevent Unnecessary Vacancies in Foreclosed Homes”
2. S809/H503 An Act to Amend the Foreclosure Statute to Require Judicial Foreclosure There is not a current requirement for judicial oversight, and boy have the banks ruin wild with that! Lead Sponsors; Senator Thomas Kennedy, Rep. Frank I. Smizik
3. S684/H2240 An Act to Enable Judicial Clarification of ownership in Evictions This would force banks to prove they actually own a property, legally, before eviction. Lead Sponsors: Sen. Katherine Clark, Rep. Elizabeth Malia
4. S.673/H.1355 Mandatory Foreclosure Mediation with Judicial review Would require banks to have a negotiator, with authority, with homeowners before any eviction could be commenced. Lead Sponsor: Sen. Harriette Chandler, Rep. Vincent Pedone.
The committee hearing these bills is “The Joint Committee on the Judiciary” and there are a whole list of bills up for review, in addition to these four, as shown online at the Legislature’s website.
I am hoping some of you will attend – I can’t due to workload and having made an appointment to meet with an eleven year old client in Marlborough before I knew about this hearing and this rally. Then it occurred to me – YOU all might want to know about this.
For those of us who cannot attend the rally (and I would if I could) you can call your state senator and representative by calling this number and asking for them by name: 617 722 2000 (State House switchboard). If you don’t know who your State Senator or Rep. are you can find out at this link.
The neighborhood you help protect just may be your own.
