Eight million people are at risk of losing their homes because Wall Street abandoned responsible lending practices to gain short-term profits. The housing crisis is not just a problem for families facing foreclosure - it's a problem for every homeowner in America. As long as foreclosures persist, home values will keep going down, and everyone loses.
We need your help. Have you been affected by the housing meltdown? Foreclosed on? Underwater? Record your story, or the story of a friend, family member, or neighbor, and send it to us. You can also add your written story along with a photo for the map. Then, watch the video stories of the families, mothers, fathers, and children who have lost, or are losing the place they call home.
It was just six years ago that Olive Thompson purchased a home in a quiet working class neighborhood on Long Island with a mortgage from Option One. Her story is similar to hundreds of thousands of Americans who now face the very real possibility that they will be evicted from their homes. Throughout the country the foreclosure rate in 2008 skyrocketed. In the first two months of this year there have been more than 10,000 foreclosures in New York state alone.
Perhaps more striking than the foreclosure epidemic is just how easily it could have been avoided. Thompson discusses her predicament and what she plans to do if she’s issued an eviction notice.
Yesterday, the first activist in a civil disobedience campaign to resist foreclosure was arrested in Baltimore. The campaign, launched by ACORN earlier this month, aims to draw attention to the foreclosure crisis and ultimately allow people to save their homes. The question is whether activists and home defenders can help affect policy and whether cities will begin to adopt moratoriums on home foreclosures.
