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“Foreclosure on a family home is
the American dream lost. Foreclosures uproot
families, destroy credit and lock individuals out of
the housing market while destabilizing neighborhoods
and lowering property values.”
Jimmy Dimora,
President of the County Board of
Commissioners |
Cuyahoga County had an estimated 10,000
foreclosures in 2005, four times more than
in 1998, and among the highest in the nation. The
just-announced
foreclosure prevention program will make
counseling available to help homeowners avoid losing their
homes. Funding sources include our County budget, Freddie
Mac, and several banks.
Predatory
lenders
If citizens were being assaulted on our
streets, educating them about where to walk and what
to do after they have been mugged would be
seen as a helpful response — but not enough. We would demand
that our government, whose first responsibility is to protect
its citizens, get the muggers off our streets.
We all know who these muggers are. They are the predatory
lenders who prey on unwary homeowners.
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Though the county's
press release on this program made no
mention of predatory lending, Freddie Mac (the Federal Home
Loan Corporation), a supporter, titled its
press release "Cuyahoga county, numerous
organizations kick off countywide effort to prevent
foreclosures, predatory lending." (bold added).
Our Mayor Frank Jackson says "Consumer education
is key in combating predatory lending and helping to
prevent foreclosures." |
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see "Posters" below |
Legislating
against predatory lending practices
Cleveland has already developed a
predatory lending law. Now the Ohio State legislature
is at work, crafting a bill for Ohio. But in her recent
(April 9, 2006) hard-hitting
story Plain Dealer columnist Sheryl Harris writes:
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"The Ohio House has made a hash of the
predatory-lending bill, so it will fall to a joint
House-Senate conference committee to draft something
sensible." read
entire story |
The
minutes of the Ohio House of
Representatives
show the amended bill, which lacks so many needed
safeguards, passing 89-5. It was important for
legislators to tell voters that they voted "yes". So much
so that after the bill passed 40 of them asked to be added as
sponsors of this flawed bill.
PD Columnist Harris tells us how we can
help get stronger legislation to help fighting predatory
lending and asks us to get involved.
Why should we
get involved?
Get involved because this is a
neighborhood issue. As Jimmy Dimora (see introduction)
says so well, it is more than an attack on decent,
hard-working homeowners. It lowers property values and
destabilizes neighborhoods.
Read the
Plain Dealer column
to learn ways we can
get involved by contacting our legislators. Help in
reaching them is on our new
Contact page. Don't delay. The time is now.
Posters
Full page ready-to-print colorful
posters are available on the Cuyahoga County web site in
English and
Spanish. (Acrobat Reader required.)
How to get
help
Call 211
First Call For Help at (216) 436-2000. It is a 24 hour
a day every day free community service supported by United
Way. The foreclosure counselors are supported with funds
provided by the county and leading banks.
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Some banks
are much better citizens than others |
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As good citizens,
we should also expect our banks
to be good citizens — supporting
community lending and making
banking services more
widely available to the general
public. To see how well your
bank does,
click
here. |
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Web Resources
