New Report Finds Continuing Foreclosure Crisis Led to $192.6 Billion in Lost Wealth in 2012; Households in Communities of Color Hardest Hit
PRESS Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 16, 2013
Contacts:
Alliance for a Just Society: Rahul Gupta, (206) 419-9599, rahul@allianceforajustsociety.org
Home Defender’s League & New Bottom Line: Nick Sifuentes, (310) 866-1692, nick@berlinrosen.com
New Report Finds Continuing Foreclosure Crisis Led to $192.6 Billion in Lost Wealth in 2012; Households in Communities of Color Hardest Hit
With 13.2 million homes still underwater, principal reduction could save underwater homeowners an average of $7,710 a year and boost U.S. economy by over $100 billion
VICTORY! Campaign To #DumpDeMarco Celebrates Nomination of Permanent FHFA Director; Urges Watt To Support Principal Reduction
*** See Timeline Of Actions Here: http://www.newbottomline.com/timeline ***
New Bottom Line’s 16-Month Campaign Takes Giant Step Forward To Removing:
“The biggest roadblock to our country’s economic recovery”
Since early 2012, New Bottom Line has driven the campaign to get President Obama to dump Ed DeMarco, acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Today, the organization celebrated the news that the president finally made a nomination for the permanent director of FHFA. New Bottom Line also urges Congressman Mel Watt to support principal reduction at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in his new position, as well as supporting the vital role they play in ensuring homeownership and rental housing opportunities for all communities.
Americans Hurt by Housing Crisis Interrupt FHFA Acting Director DeMarco at House Hearing
For Immediate Release: March 19, 2013
Contact: Doug Gordon (202) 494-5141
Five Arrested For Protesting DeMarco at House Financial Services Hearing
Washington, DC—A group of 15 Americans in need of affordable housing crashed a Financial Services hearing on the Hill today, where FHFA Acting Director Ed DeMarco was speaking, to protest the Bush appointee’s failed policies and demand an end to his tenure. Five were arrested after the protesters interrupted DeMarco’s speech with signs reading “Dump DeMarco” and stood up one at a time to demand President Obama dump DeMarco and nominate a permanent direct who will implement national principal reduction-- resetting mortgages to fair market value—at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
New Bottom Line Applauds Congressional Demand That Obama Fire DeMarco
Bush-Holdover Housing Appointee Standing In The Way Of Relief For Underwater Homeowners and Country’s Economic Progress
For Immediate Release: Thursday, February 7, 2013
Contact: Doug Gordon (202) 494-5141, doug@fitzgibbonmedia.com
New Bottom Line, which has campaigned for the last year to get President Obama to replace Edward DeMarco, Acting Director of the Federal Housing Finance Administration (FHFA) with a permanent director who will advocate for homeowners, today applauded Congressman Cummings and Congressman Tierney for their call to have Obama name a permanent director.
Earlier today the Congressmen announced that 43 Members of Congress had joined them in signing a letter to President Obama demand a change in leadership at FHFA immediately.
You can see the letter here: http://democrats.oversight.house.gov/images/stories/DeMarco%20Letter%20to%20POTUS%202-7-13.pdf
Advocates Ramp-Up Campaign To Get Bush Appointee DeMarco Fired
For Immediate Release: Monday, January 28, 2013
Contact: Doug Gordon (202) 494-5141, doug@fitzgibbonmedia.com
Holdover Housing Appointee Standing In The Way Of Relief For Homeowners
In advance of the State of the Union, advocates led by New Bottom Line are ramping up their campaign to get Edward DeMarco, Acting Director of the Federal Housing Finance Administration (FHFA), fired and replaced with a director who will fight for relief for homeowners.
New Bottom Line: Bank Settlement Is Not Enough; Money Needs To Go to Communities of Color
For all press inquiries, please contact: Doug Gordon (202) 494-5141; doug@fitzgibbonmedia.com
In response to the $8.5 billion settlement between 10 big banks and the OCC to replace the Independent Foreclosure Review, The New Bottom Line, a leading homeowner and community organizing coalition is calling for restitution and principal reduction to go directly into communities of color and low income communities that were targeted and devastated by big bank abuses for years.
"The Independent Foreclosure Review process was broken, and the settlement announced today by the OCC does not provide the sort of relief that homeowners could have received if the reviews had been done right. Despite this, we are glad to see that some degree of principal reduction and restitution to homeowners will happen and happen more quickly than under the current process. Serious questions remain about how borrowers will be identified and fairly treated. And similar to the $26 billion Attorneys General settlement finalized last year, we are only seeing a tiny drop in the bucket of what's really needed to compensate homeowners and strengthen our economy. We continue to call for a full investigation into big bank wrongdoing that led to our ongoing mortgage woes," said LeeAnn Hall, executive director of the Alliance for Just Society an organizational member of The New Bottom Line.
"Settlement funds must flow directly into communities of color and low-income communities. For too long, the banks targeted these communities with abusive tactics that stripped wealth, unfairly and illegally foreclosed homes and devastated neighborhoods," said Liz Ryan Murray, policy director of National People's Action, an organizational member of The New Bottom Line. "The enforcement of this settlement must make sure principal reduction moves into these communities and the banks must be required to report on where and to who the settlement assistance is going. There will be no true economic recovery for our country until all of our communities, including those most impacted by the crisis, are rebuilt."
The New Bottom Line is a national coalition fueled by a coalition of community organizations including PICO National Network, National People's Action, Alliance for a Just Society, and Right to the City. We are congregations, labor unions, and individuals working together to build a movement that challenges established big bank interests on behalf of struggling and middle-class communities.
Statement from Tracy Van Slyke, Executive Director of The New Bottom Line
The New Bottom Line is pleased about the Financial Times report today that the White House is finally moving forward the much-needed replacement of Ed DeMarco, the interim director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. It is time for DeMarco to go. For too long, DeMarco has obstinately and ideologically opposed principal reduction within Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. This opposition has come even when it's been documented by Fannie and Freddie that principal reduction would benefit homeowners and taxpayers. DeMarco is supposed to be working for homeowners, but as Acting Director, has systematically worked against them.
The New Bottom Line and its members Alliance for Just Society, National People's Action, PICO National Network and Right to the City had over 40 community members and homeowners present at the White House Housing Summit, where we repeated our call on the administration to replace DeMarco. Read more about what homeowners told top White House administration officials at the meeting. (link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tracy-van-slyke/homeowners-white-house-officials_b_1885090.html)
Major Housing Group Reacts To Schneiderman Announcement
For Immediate Release: Monday, October 1, 2012
Contact: Doug Gordon (202) 494-5141; doug@fitzgibbonmedia.com
Statement of Tracy Van Slyke, Director of The New Bottom Line:
"Today, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and the RMBS Task Force took an important step in holding Wall Street and JP Morgan Chase accountable for the worst financial crimes in our nation's history. While we applaud Attorney General Schneiderman, today's action against JP Morgan must be the beginning, not the end. This is the starting line of justice and relief for the millions of Americans ripped off and defrauded by our country’s most powerful financial institutions.
"Wall Street’s insatiable desire for securitized mortgages was the prime mover of the sub-prime debacle which forced millions of homeowners out of their homes and cost billions of dollars in lost wealth. As with most lawsuits of this type, we expect that settlement negotiations that will begin soon or have already begun and must put homeowner relief at the center of the discussion.
"One of the most critical and necessary outcomes of the RMBS task force and resulting lawsuits must be hundreds of billions of dollars in relief for millions of homeowners, especially communities of color hit hardest by Wall Street, in the form of resetting mortgages to fair market value. The result can not be a repeat of the drop-in-the-bucket Attorneys General settlement with big banks earlier thisyear. This must also must be the first of many lawsuits filed against other big banks.
"It is profoundly disappointing there are no criminal charges filed against top officials at JP Morgan Chase bank or any other bank so far.
"The significance of this lawsuit shows that the next President, be it President Obama or Governor Romney, needs to make principal reduction for homeowners and Wall Street accountability a top priority in their first 100 days."
The New Bottom Line is a national campaign fueled by a coalition of community organizations including PICO National Network, National People's Action, Alliance for a Just Society, and Right to the City. We are congregations, labor unions, and individuals working together to build a movement that challenges established big bank interests on behalf of struggling and middle-class communities.
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New Bottom Line: DeMarco puts his own ideology and politics ahead of taxpayers, homeowners and our economy
For Immediate Release: Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Contact: Doug Gordon doug@fitzgibbonmedia.com
"After months of delay in responding to Congress, FHFA Acting Director Ed DeMarco announced today that he continues to bar Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from conducting targeted principal reduction that could benefit up to a half million homeowners and save taxpayers billions of dollars.
Campaign for a Fair Settlement & New Bottom Line Launch Online Ad Campaign Targeting OFA Offices in Swing States
Housing Groups Urge President to Act Now on Wall Street Accountability and Grant Large-Scale Mortgage Principal Reduction for Underwater Homeowners
(Washington, D.C.) The Campaign for a Fair Settlement (CFS) and The New Bottom Line (NBL) today launched an Internet advertising campaign to pressure President Obama to hold Wall Street accountable for the foreclosure crisis and require big banks to pay back underwater homeowners through large-scale principal reduction.
The campaign includes $20,000 in Google and Facebook ads in six swing states: Colorado, Florida, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. The ads drive viewers to post a message on the Facebook pages of state OFA offices that says: “President Obama: I am a voter. I want Wall Street criminals held accountable and I want the big banks to pay us back. Do what’s right for Americans!”
