Read more: Local, State, Economy
ACORN, Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, issued the following press release:
Michigan - Despite the intense focus and negotiations on Capitol Hill about how to help Wall Street through the current crisis, the foreclosure crisis on Main Street did not begin last week and does not end this week. In fact, foreclosures continue at a record pace, millions of Americans are teetering on the brink of losing their homes, and as long as foreclosures continue home prices will fail to stabilize and Wall Street's mortgage-backed assets will continue to lose value and remain illiquid. Tragically, nothing in the proposed federal bailout of Wall Street does anything substantial to impact the foreclosure crisis that caused and continues to deepen the broader financial crisis.
ACORN members will rally to demand immediate help for struggling homeowners, and across the country will turn in thousands of symbolic applications for assistance from the new "FHA Hope for Homeowners" program that is supposed to be up and running by October 1.
WHAT: ACORN members to "turn in" applications for help from FHA
WHO: Families struggling with the mortgage who need assistance
DETROIT EVENT at 12:15pm
Detroit HUD Field Office
McNamara Federal Building
477 Michigan Avenue
Detroit, MI 48226
Contact: Darnelda Stark 313-995-2618
GRAND RAPIDS EVENT at 2pm
Grand Rapids HUD Field Office
Trade Center Building
50 Louis Street, NW
Grand Rapids, MI 49503
Contact: Chris van Leeuwen 616-514-8415
FLINT EVENT at 2pm
Flint Field Office
Phoenix Building - 4th Floor
801 S. Saginaw Street
Flint, MI 48502
Contact: Lisia Williams 810-252-2519
ACORN National President Maude Hurd said much of the recent debate has missed the point. "It was strange to see those who had said everything was fine wake up one day last week and decide we were finally in a crisis and something had to be done," said Hurd. "We've known there was a crisis with foreclosures for more than a year now, and nothing Congress has done will make a dent in the crisis we see on Main Street.
"It is imperative that we continue to press for solutions to fix the underlying problem here: Unaffordable mortgages that families cannot afford. We need the Hope for Homeowners program up and running on all cylinders, we need a real commitment from Secretary Paulson to pursue aggressive modifications of the mortgages underlying the assets purchased by Treasury, and the government must decisively use its conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to achieve sustainable modifications. Finally, we need bankruptcy reform so that judges can restructure some mortgages on principal residences to affordable terms," said Hurd.
"As shown by the massive number of homeowners still in urgent need of help, this crisis is far from over and demands leadership commensurate with the enormity of the challenges we face - the kind of leadership we just aren't seeing in Washington now," concluded Hurd.
ACORN is the nation's largest community organization of low- and moderate-income families, with over 400,000 member families organized into more than 1000 neighborhood chapters in 110 cities across the country. Since 1970 ACORN has taken action and won victories on issues of concern to our members, including leading the fight against predatory lending and foreclosures. ACORN stands for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. Learn more at www.acorn.org and www.raisewages.org.
