Lynn group heads to D.C. to discuss foreclosures
LYNN - Members of the faith-based Essex County Community Organization (ECCO) of Lynn will meet with congressional officials in Washington, D.C. over the next couple of days to discuss solutions to the mounting foreclosure crisis.
Rev. Jane Gould of St. Stephen’s Church and ECCO street outreach worker Antonio Gutierrez today will meet with John Podesta, head of President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team, FDIC director Thomas Curry and officials from the Department of Treasury. Gould and Gutierrez will then join other community leaders from Massachusetts and 17 other states in a series of meetings in Washington, D.C. through Wednesday.
“We’re trying to get these folks to be supportive of the major restructuring of mortgages, especially with this new administration,” Gould said. “If people pay 31 percent of their income to mortgages, especially with high heating costs in New England, they will crash. It just won’t work.”
According to Gould, a report by market tracker Zillow.com shows that Lynn has the highest percentage of homes with negative equity in the state, which is indicative of how dire the real estate price decline really is and how foreclosures are affecting the city.
Because of that, Gould said ECCO is doing its part to find a solution to quell the national foreclosure crisis.
“Several million homeowners are facing foreclosure now and there are many predictions that three million more will face foreclosure in the next two years,” she said. “Our communities with the foreclosures are seeing increased deterioration, as many of the mortgage holders are not maintaining the foreclosed homes.”
Alex Heimann of ECCO said the group is part of a national campaign to press the Secretary of Treasury to adopt the model foreclosure program enacted by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).
“They (Gould, Gutierrez) are looking for a housing foreclosure reform idea, and one of their ideas is for a soft second mortgage, which would readjust the interest rate and give a second mortgage on the home at an affordable level,” he said. “President-elect Obama has said more must be done on this issue, so we are going to Washington to talk to Obama officials, Treasury officials, and key congressmen.”
Gould said she and other grassroots community members would prefer to see roughly $25 billion of the $700 billion bailout be allocated toward foreclosure efforts instead of major corporations.
FDIC has assisted thousands of homeowners with mortgages from the failed IndyMac Bank that FDIC took over to modify mortgages in terms of changes in interest rate, principal, or length of the mortgage.
“In Lynn, there are so many folks who are facing foreclosure and some will still end up failing,” Gould said. “People think they don’t have any power, but if you work together, you can affect change and end victimization and helplessness.”
As part of the People Improving Communities through Organizing (PICO) National Network of faith-based community organizations that ECCO belongs to, the group will also meet with Congressman Barney Frank, U.S. Sens. Edward Kennedy and John Kerry and Congressmen John Tierney and Stephen Lynch to discuss issues of foreclosure, health care, immigration reform, and support for youth violence prevention programs.
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