Struggle heats up to stop foreclosures

[dcsmart]

This article is about Michigan housing problems and info about "Moratorium NOW!"

Activists with the Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures and Evictions are stepping up their struggle for a moratorium on foreclosures, evictions, utility shutoffs and plant closings. At a Jan. 10 coalition meeting, organizers announced plans for a demonstration at the State Capitol in Lansing on Feb. 3 when Gov. Jennifer Granholm delivers her annual State of the State address.

Michigan has been in a state of severe economic depression for the last decade. The state has lost half a million, mostly union, industrial jobs over the last five years. The House Fiscal Agency is forecasting the loss of another 258,000 jobs in the next two years. (Detroit Free Press, Jan. 7)

With the official unemployment rate at 9.6 percent, the highest in the U.S., Michigan residents will face increased foreclosures as more workers lose their incomes and as adjustable rate mortgages reset this year.

In reality it is almost impossible for the average homeowner to successfully communicate and negotiate with her/his mortgage lender. Most banks and lenders, even when mandated by law to modify loans to help homeowners avoid foreclosure, have laid off workers and reduced personnel so much that often there’s no one to even answer the telephones.
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FULL ARTICLE
http://www.workers.org/2009/us/stop_foreclosures_0122/

WEBSITE REFERENCED IN THIS ARTICLE
http://www.moratorium-mi.org/

[ProgressiveProfessor]

1. The real problem is that its hard to parse the ones that should go from the ones that sould not

Not all evictions/foreclosures/closings are wrong. A blanket position is dumb. How should we determine which should go forward and those that should be stopped?