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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.

Author Archive for robertgreenwald

“Billions of dollars to the banks, yet we’re the ones that are homeless.”

Published
by
robertgreenwald
on March 1, 2009
in Content
. Comments

“We were trained to mislead borrowers,” says a mortgage broker in Orange County, California. “There were people who were club promoters or even drug dealers that found out it was more profitable to run a mortgage shop than to do whatever they were doing.”

Take a look at our video about the subprime mortgage lending racket.

On Tuesday, Congress will vote on whether or not to level the playing field between the banks that caused the collapse of the housing market and struggling homeowners. Representative John Conyers has introduced legislation in the House that authorizes judges to require banks to reevaluate overpriced mortgages of bankrupt homeowners.

Sign our petition to let Congress know that you support Conyers’ bill, H.R. 1106. Then, call your Congressional Representative and ask him or her to vote for it.

Conyers’ proposal is a simple, modest fix that will help keep hundreds of thousands of families in their homes. This bill is a win for every homeowner in America. By helping stem foreclosures, it will help arrest the decline in home values for everybody, not just those who are struggling to make payments. President Obama supports the bill and has called on Congress to pass it. The banks and the lobbyists that represent them oppose the bill with a passion.

These are the same banks that started this recession in the first place by hawking worthless subprime mortgage loans to naïve or unsuspecting borrowers. Joan Adams of Irvine, California lost her home to foreclosure, and is now living out of a motel by the airport. “There’s no one out there to help,” Joan says. “Billions of dollars to all the banks for bailouts for something they caused, and yet we’re the ones that are homeless.”

The banks have had their handouts. Now it’s time for struggling homeowners to be put first. Tell your Representative to support H.R. 1106.

CEO Bailouts? How About the Homeowners?

Published
by
robertgreenwald
on February 10, 2009
in Content
. Comments

If you’re a Wall Street executive who drove your firm into the ground and nearly capsized the U.S. economy, it seems like all you have to do these days to get a multibillion dollar bailout from Congress is put your hand out.

But if you’re like Guillermo San Pedro, a hardworking truck driver in Los Angeles who fell victim to a predatory loan and is at risk of losing his home, you’re on your own.

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. No Wall Street bailout will fix that problem.

We’re collecting stories from people all over the country who have been hit by the housing crisis so we can show what’s really happening on Main Street: while Wall Street takes hundreds of billions of dollars in taxpayer money to pay for lavish executive bonuses and luxurious office furniture, homeowners at risk of foreclosure still aren’t getting any relief.

We need your help. Have you been affected by the housing meltdown? Foreclosed on? Underwater? Trapped in a predatory loan? Do you know anyone else whose life has been turned upside down by the collapse of the real estate market? Record your story, or the story of a friend, family member, co-worker, or neighbor, and send it to us. If you have a video camera or webcam, then please send us your video. You can also add your written story along with a photo we can post on our interactive map.

Continue reading ‘CEO Bailouts? How About the Homeowners?’