Q: I work for the New Mexico VA health care system. My question is that, I think as an integral part of being Hispanic, being from here, home is very integral to that, and not only for Hispanics, for all New Mexicans, for all Americans. And yet I hear stories of my family members’ friends, veterans that I treat, of losing their homes due to this economy that we’ve been through or are going through. And I guess my question is, what are we doing to prevent people from losing their homes?
I know education is truly incredible — it moves people beyond what we can ever expect — but if we don’t have homes to go to, what good is the education?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, the housing crisis helped to trigger the financial crisis. And it’s a complicated story, but essentially what happened was, banks started seeing money in peddling what looked like these very low-interest-rate mortgages, no money down. Started peddling these things to folks. A lot of people didn’t read the fine print, where they had adjustable-rate mortgages or balloon payments, and they ended up being in situations where they were in homes that they couldn’t necessarily afford.
The banks made a whole bunch of money on all these mortgages that were being generated. But what happened was — is that when the housing market started going down, then all these financial instruments that were built on a steady stream of payments for mortgages, they all went bust, and that helped to trigger the entire crisis
Now, this is a multitrillion-dollar market, so there’s no government program where we can just make sure that whoever is losing their home that we can just pick up the tab and make sure that they can pay. And frankly there are some people who really bought more home than they could afford, and they’d be better off renting, or they’re going to have to make adjustments in terms of their house.
What we have tried to do, though, is to make sure that people who had been making their payments regularly, who are meeting their responsibilities, if they could have a little bit of an adjustment with the banks, if some of the principal was reduced, if some of the interest was reduced on their mortgage payment, they could keep on making payments. The bank would be better off than if the home was foreclosed on, obviously they’d be better off, and as the housing market starts picking back up again — which it will do over time, although not in the same trajectory as it used to, right; it’s going to be more much gradual — then potentially the bank could recoup some of the money that it had lost by making the adjustments on the mortgages.
So we’ve set up a number of these mortgage modification programs that are out there. But I don’t want to lie to you — we’ve probably had hundreds of thousands of people who’ve been helped by it. I think there have been a couple of million who’ve applied. But that doesn’t meet the entire need because this is such a huge housing market.
And what really is probably the most important thing I can do right now to keep people in their homes is to make sure the economy is growing so that they don’t feel job insecurity. That’s probably the thing that’s going to strengthen the housing market the most over the next couple of years. If we’ve got a growing economy, unemployment is gradually being reduced, then people are going to feel more confident; they’re going to be able to make their mortgage payments; new — homeowners, people who are potentially buyers of homes, are going to say, you know what, I don’t mind entering the market because I think things have sort of bottomed out — that starts lifting prices and that gets us on a virtuous cycle instead of a negative cycle.
But it’s going to take some time. We’re working our way out of overbuilding in the housing market, a lot of not very sensible financial arrangements in the housing market. And we’ve got to get back to sort of a traditional, more commonsense way of thinking about housing which is, if you want a house you got to save for a while. You got to wait until you have 20 percent down. You should go for a mortgage that you know you can afford. You’ve got to — there shouldn’t be any surprises out there, right? That kind of traditional thinking about saving and thinking about the house not as something that is always going up 20 percent every year and you’re going to flip and take out home equity loans and all that — we’ve got to have a different attitude, which reflects what you talked about, more of an attitude that this is your home. This is not just a way to make quick money.
Progressive Rep. Bob Filner Risks Arrest To Save Cancer Victim’s Home From Foreclosure
As ThinkProgress has noted, there are currently two competing visions of governance in the United States. One, the conservative version, believes in the on-your-own society, and sides with powerful corporations and other privileged sectors of America. The other vision, the progressive one, believes in an American Dream that works for all people, regardless of their racial, religious, or economic background.
This progressive vision was on full display yesterday during a vigil led by Rep. Bob Filner (D-CA) that halted, for now, the foreclosure of a cancer victim’s home. For months, Bonita, California resident Luz Maria Villanueva had been facing impending foreclosure on her home by Union Bank. Villanueva’s situation was especially dire due to the fact that her son has a kidney disease as well as cancer. As medical bills began to pile up, Villanueva had to choose between the life of her son and her home, and she chose her son.
As Union Bank began to close in on Villanueva’s home, Rep. Bob Filner (D-CA), who represents the woman and her son in Congress, took note of her situation. Comparing the struggle of families trying to keep their homes to the civil rights struggles of the 1960s which landed him in a Mississippi jail for two months, Filner announced that he’d be holding a community vigil on the steps of Villanueva’s house on the day a local sheriff was scheduled to come foreclose on her. He warned that doing so “may result” in his arrest, but that was willing to risk it to help her save her home. Thanks to the publicity Filner and the surrounding community brought to the case, Union Bank decided to call off the foreclosure, for now:
“Thank you, thank you!” Luz Maria Villanueva’s voice was choked with emotion at a rally on her front lawn organized by Congressman Bob Filner (D-San Diego). Nearly 100 people turned out at 5:30 a.m. for a candlelight vigil to protest Union Bank’s announced plan to have the Sheriff’s department take Villanueva’s Bonita home. She has pleaded for a reprieve at least until her young son, who has cancer, completes chemotherapy treatments.
“We’re going to stand together to change America,” said Rep. Filner. “We have a president who talked about hope. We have to give him strength. The banks have taken over both parties.” He called for changes in the law to protect those victimized by predatory lending practices. The rally drew widespread media attention; at least three major TV stations as well as print and online media reporters were on hand to cover the event. Although Villanueva attained a temporary stay when Union Bank called off the Sheriff today, the order could be reissued, Filner warned those present. “We got them to back down, but we need you to be on call.”
Local news station San Diego 6 covered the event. Filner told the station that he gets “hundreds of calls” every day from other constituents facing foreclosure on their homes. He also reiterated his commitment to passing cramdown legislation — which was defeated in Congress last year — to help people stay in their homes. Watch San Diego 6’s report:
The fate of Villanueva’s home is still up in the air, as Union Bank has promised to continue negotiations with her and Filner. For his part, the congressman hopes that other communities and their legislators fight to help their neighbors keep their homes. “I hope this spreads across America,” he said at the vigil yesterday.
Sea Ice <b>News</b> – delayed a day – but still something interesting <b>...</b>
It makes good news right now because of the nice 15 year trend down, which is actually a 30 year trend down. The problem is that our satellite data for the sea ice extent started in 1979 (for the whole year at least). ...
Arrowheadlines: Chiefs <b>News</b> 10/4 - Arrowhead Pride
However, there aren't many real stories because of the bye. I'd expect the hype to start soon. We're just a few days from the undefeated Chiefs playing the "struggling" Colts. Here's your Kansas City Chiefs news.
<b>News</b> the Old Media Won't Tell You: More Trash at One Sparsely <b>...</b>
12774581 Commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fbigjournalism.com%2Fmpleahy%2F2010%2F10%2F03%2Fnews-the-old-media-wont-tell-you-more-trash-at-one-sparsely-attended-left-wing-rally-than-at-all-the-tea-parties-around-the-country-in-a-year-and-a-half%2FNews ...
eric seiger eric seiger
Q: I work for the New Mexico VA health care system. My question is that, I think as an integral part of being Hispanic, being from here, home is very integral to that, and not only for Hispanics, for all New Mexicans, for all Americans. And yet I hear stories of my family members’ friends, veterans that I treat, of losing their homes due to this economy that we’ve been through or are going through. And I guess my question is, what are we doing to prevent people from losing their homes?
I know education is truly incredible — it moves people beyond what we can ever expect — but if we don’t have homes to go to, what good is the education?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, the housing crisis helped to trigger the financial crisis. And it’s a complicated story, but essentially what happened was, banks started seeing money in peddling what looked like these very low-interest-rate mortgages, no money down. Started peddling these things to folks. A lot of people didn’t read the fine print, where they had adjustable-rate mortgages or balloon payments, and they ended up being in situations where they were in homes that they couldn’t necessarily afford.
The banks made a whole bunch of money on all these mortgages that were being generated. But what happened was — is that when the housing market started going down, then all these financial instruments that were built on a steady stream of payments for mortgages, they all went bust, and that helped to trigger the entire crisis
Now, this is a multitrillion-dollar market, so there’s no government program where we can just make sure that whoever is losing their home that we can just pick up the tab and make sure that they can pay. And frankly there are some people who really bought more home than they could afford, and they’d be better off renting, or they’re going to have to make adjustments in terms of their house.
What we have tried to do, though, is to make sure that people who had been making their payments regularly, who are meeting their responsibilities, if they could have a little bit of an adjustment with the banks, if some of the principal was reduced, if some of the interest was reduced on their mortgage payment, they could keep on making payments. The bank would be better off than if the home was foreclosed on, obviously they’d be better off, and as the housing market starts picking back up again — which it will do over time, although not in the same trajectory as it used to, right; it’s going to be more much gradual — then potentially the bank could recoup some of the money that it had lost by making the adjustments on the mortgages.
So we’ve set up a number of these mortgage modification programs that are out there. But I don’t want to lie to you — we’ve probably had hundreds of thousands of people who’ve been helped by it. I think there have been a couple of million who’ve applied. But that doesn’t meet the entire need because this is such a huge housing market.
And what really is probably the most important thing I can do right now to keep people in their homes is to make sure the economy is growing so that they don’t feel job insecurity. That’s probably the thing that’s going to strengthen the housing market the most over the next couple of years. If we’ve got a growing economy, unemployment is gradually being reduced, then people are going to feel more confident; they’re going to be able to make their mortgage payments; new — homeowners, people who are potentially buyers of homes, are going to say, you know what, I don’t mind entering the market because I think things have sort of bottomed out — that starts lifting prices and that gets us on a virtuous cycle instead of a negative cycle.
But it’s going to take some time. We’re working our way out of overbuilding in the housing market, a lot of not very sensible financial arrangements in the housing market. And we’ve got to get back to sort of a traditional, more commonsense way of thinking about housing which is, if you want a house you got to save for a while. You got to wait until you have 20 percent down. You should go for a mortgage that you know you can afford. You’ve got to — there shouldn’t be any surprises out there, right? That kind of traditional thinking about saving and thinking about the house not as something that is always going up 20 percent every year and you’re going to flip and take out home equity loans and all that — we’ve got to have a different attitude, which reflects what you talked about, more of an attitude that this is your home. This is not just a way to make quick money.
Progressive Rep. Bob Filner Risks Arrest To Save Cancer Victim’s Home From Foreclosure
As ThinkProgress has noted, there are currently two competing visions of governance in the United States. One, the conservative version, believes in the on-your-own society, and sides with powerful corporations and other privileged sectors of America. The other vision, the progressive one, believes in an American Dream that works for all people, regardless of their racial, religious, or economic background.
This progressive vision was on full display yesterday during a vigil led by Rep. Bob Filner (D-CA) that halted, for now, the foreclosure of a cancer victim’s home. For months, Bonita, California resident Luz Maria Villanueva had been facing impending foreclosure on her home by Union Bank. Villanueva’s situation was especially dire due to the fact that her son has a kidney disease as well as cancer. As medical bills began to pile up, Villanueva had to choose between the life of her son and her home, and she chose her son.
As Union Bank began to close in on Villanueva’s home, Rep. Bob Filner (D-CA), who represents the woman and her son in Congress, took note of her situation. Comparing the struggle of families trying to keep their homes to the civil rights struggles of the 1960s which landed him in a Mississippi jail for two months, Filner announced that he’d be holding a community vigil on the steps of Villanueva’s house on the day a local sheriff was scheduled to come foreclose on her. He warned that doing so “may result” in his arrest, but that was willing to risk it to help her save her home. Thanks to the publicity Filner and the surrounding community brought to the case, Union Bank decided to call off the foreclosure, for now:
“Thank you, thank you!” Luz Maria Villanueva’s voice was choked with emotion at a rally on her front lawn organized by Congressman Bob Filner (D-San Diego). Nearly 100 people turned out at 5:30 a.m. for a candlelight vigil to protest Union Bank’s announced plan to have the Sheriff’s department take Villanueva’s Bonita home. She has pleaded for a reprieve at least until her young son, who has cancer, completes chemotherapy treatments.
“We’re going to stand together to change America,” said Rep. Filner. “We have a president who talked about hope. We have to give him strength. The banks have taken over both parties.” He called for changes in the law to protect those victimized by predatory lending practices. The rally drew widespread media attention; at least three major TV stations as well as print and online media reporters were on hand to cover the event. Although Villanueva attained a temporary stay when Union Bank called off the Sheriff today, the order could be reissued, Filner warned those present. “We got them to back down, but we need you to be on call.”
Local news station San Diego 6 covered the event. Filner told the station that he gets “hundreds of calls” every day from other constituents facing foreclosure on their homes. He also reiterated his commitment to passing cramdown legislation — which was defeated in Congress last year — to help people stay in their homes. Watch San Diego 6’s report:
The fate of Villanueva’s home is still up in the air, as Union Bank has promised to continue negotiations with her and Filner. For his part, the congressman hopes that other communities and their legislators fight to help their neighbors keep their homes. “I hope this spreads across America,” he said at the vigil yesterday.
Sea Ice <b>News</b> – delayed a day – but still something interesting <b>...</b>
It makes good news right now because of the nice 15 year trend down, which is actually a 30 year trend down. The problem is that our satellite data for the sea ice extent started in 1979 (for the whole year at least). ...
Arrowheadlines: Chiefs <b>News</b> 10/4 - Arrowhead Pride
However, there aren't many real stories because of the bye. I'd expect the hype to start soon. We're just a few days from the undefeated Chiefs playing the "struggling" Colts. Here's your Kansas City Chiefs news.
<b>News</b> the Old Media Won't Tell You: More Trash at One Sparsely <b>...</b>
12774581 Commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fbigjournalism.com%2Fmpleahy%2F2010%2F10%2F03%2Fnews-the-old-media-wont-tell-you-more-trash-at-one-sparsely-attended-left-wing-rally-than-at-all-the-tea-parties-around-the-country-in-a-year-and-a-half%2FNews ...
eric seiger eric seiger
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