C-2
11-26-2007, 10:54 PM
About time they got the Rev on it, I feel much better now :eek:
Jesse Jackson targets lenders on foreclosures
November 26, 2007
BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter
The Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. today demanded City Council hearings and a Dec.10 march on La Salle Street to shine the light on a mortgage foreclosure epidemic he warned could trigger a "sustained depression" as early as next year.
Jackson accused "unscrupulous lenders" of targeting minorities for high-cost loans in a "form of redlining and racial profiling." He pointed to a study by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition that shows African-Americans of all income levels in the Chicago area were more than twice as likely as whites to receive the subprime and ballooning adjustable interest rate mortgages that can be a prelude to foreclosure.
The City Council has no power to bring about the solution that Jackson is seeking: a freeze on both adjustable rate mortgages and home foreclosures and restructuring in favor of repossession. But City Council hearings can apply political pressure.
"Rats run in holes when lights come on. The City Council can expose the lenders," Jackson said.
He added, "People who have been trapped are suffering in the dark alone..People are humiliated. It's almost like a kind of economic rape..They bought a home.They went from renting to home ownership.Now, they've got to face being evicted. It is a terrible emotional state. Don't suffer in the dark feeling private guilt. It's time for collective action for a new economic policy - a kind of bailout through restructuring, as opposed to repossession."
With 30,000 Chicago homes in foreclosure and 85,000 more threatened by late payments, Jackson warned that "the biggest economic crisis" to hit the United States since the Depression threatens city services, even with Mayor Daley's $276.5 million tax wallop.
"When you lose this many homes, you lose tax base..You have to begin to lay off firemen and teachers. And the cost of public transportation will go up.Taxes up. Services down," Jackson said.
Joining Jackson at today's City Hall news conference were Aldermen Robert Fioretti (2nd) and Ed Smith (28th), whose wards have been hard hit by home foreclosures. Also in attendance was 87-year-old Tellie Howard, one of six homeowners on his West Side block facing foreclosure.
"They come by and said they could re-mortgage the house for me because I was running behind with my payments. [They said] they could do it and I could keep my house," Howard said.
"But, by me not being able to see - and couldn't read too good either - I signed papers to sell him the house and I got nothing out of the house..Finally, a lady came by and told me that she owned the property..From there, I got an eviction notice that I should be out of the house in 30 days."
Howard was allowed to keep his home in the 4200 block of West Wilcox after intervention from Jackson and the South Austin Community Coalition.
Jesse Jackson targets lenders on foreclosures
November 26, 2007
BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter
The Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. today demanded City Council hearings and a Dec.10 march on La Salle Street to shine the light on a mortgage foreclosure epidemic he warned could trigger a "sustained depression" as early as next year.
Jackson accused "unscrupulous lenders" of targeting minorities for high-cost loans in a "form of redlining and racial profiling." He pointed to a study by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition that shows African-Americans of all income levels in the Chicago area were more than twice as likely as whites to receive the subprime and ballooning adjustable interest rate mortgages that can be a prelude to foreclosure.
The City Council has no power to bring about the solution that Jackson is seeking: a freeze on both adjustable rate mortgages and home foreclosures and restructuring in favor of repossession. But City Council hearings can apply political pressure.
"Rats run in holes when lights come on. The City Council can expose the lenders," Jackson said.
He added, "People who have been trapped are suffering in the dark alone..People are humiliated. It's almost like a kind of economic rape..They bought a home.They went from renting to home ownership.Now, they've got to face being evicted. It is a terrible emotional state. Don't suffer in the dark feeling private guilt. It's time for collective action for a new economic policy - a kind of bailout through restructuring, as opposed to repossession."
With 30,000 Chicago homes in foreclosure and 85,000 more threatened by late payments, Jackson warned that "the biggest economic crisis" to hit the United States since the Depression threatens city services, even with Mayor Daley's $276.5 million tax wallop.
"When you lose this many homes, you lose tax base..You have to begin to lay off firemen and teachers. And the cost of public transportation will go up.Taxes up. Services down," Jackson said.
Joining Jackson at today's City Hall news conference were Aldermen Robert Fioretti (2nd) and Ed Smith (28th), whose wards have been hard hit by home foreclosures. Also in attendance was 87-year-old Tellie Howard, one of six homeowners on his West Side block facing foreclosure.
"They come by and said they could re-mortgage the house for me because I was running behind with my payments. [They said] they could do it and I could keep my house," Howard said.
"But, by me not being able to see - and couldn't read too good either - I signed papers to sell him the house and I got nothing out of the house..Finally, a lady came by and told me that she owned the property..From there, I got an eviction notice that I should be out of the house in 30 days."
Howard was allowed to keep his home in the 4200 block of West Wilcox after intervention from Jackson and the South Austin Community Coalition.