Without Bankruptcy, Senate Housing Package Falls Short ??? Up to House to Pass Real Foreclosure Relief

Wade Henderson, president of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, made the following statement regarding the Foreclosure Prevention Act and its failure to include mortgage foreclosure bankruptcy protections:

“Senators outran the issue today but they won’t be able to outrun voters in November. With more than 20,000 homeowners losing their piece of the American dream every week, this issue isn’t going away.

To these struggling homeowners, the Senate housing package is a placebo. It’s up to the House to lead where the Senate failed.

Missing from the Senate bill – which is loaded with special considerations for mortgage companies and homebuilders – is the same kind of meaningful consideration for the needs of ordinary Americans struggling to pay their mortgages.

Any final bill hammered out between the U.S. House and Senate must include relief to modify home mortgages in bankruptcy to avoid foreclosure.

Right now bankruptcy judges have the power to modify loans for banks and lenders as well as owners of vacation homes and yachts, but they can’t help families whose most important asset is the home they live in.  

This skewed system is resulting in hundreds of thousands of families being tossed from their homes.  Many of these families are headed by African Americans, Latinos, working women and others who have only recently been able to purchase a piece of the American dream.

If the government can intervene on Wall Street, it can help Main Street. Allowing bankruptcy judges to reset mortgages for families on the brink of foreclosure costs the American taxpayer nothing; yet it stabilizes thousands of communities of American taxpayers across the country.  

It’s up to the House to do the right thing and pass bankruptcy legislation that would give struggling families a chance to keep their homes.”