Street roots
March 2, 2012
And so the madness continues
Foreclosure reform
hits a GOP roadblock
in the Oregon State
Legislature, ensuring
that outside the
marble halls, families
will continue to lose
their homes.
BY A N G ELA M ARTIN
C O N T R IB U T IN G W R IT E R
s the head of a non-profit advocacy
and policy organization, I am
dedicated to protecting the financial
interests of Oregon consumers. Although
our group’s mission aims to cover all realms
of consumer advocacy,
the housing crisis
means we spend a
great deal of time on
foreclosures. It’s
overwhelmingly the
number one issue
consumers call our
office about. By the
time they come to us,
most consumers have
already exhausted the
Angela Martin is
typical avenues of
the executive
seeking help through
director of
housing counselors
Economic Fairness and federal programs.
A
Oregon
M o st of th e m tru ly
are just exhausted -
discuss alternatives to foreclosure. Twenty-
dealing with a
one other states, including Washington,
seemingly never-
already have similar programs in effect. The
ending process of filling out paperwork,
foreclosure-avoidance rate from well-
being spun in circles, trying to get straight
structured programs is upward of 50
answers from their bank and frankly dealing
percent — a figure that would go a long way
with a system that simply isn’t working.
toward finally ending Oregon’s foreclosure
This is why our group worked with
landslide.
lawmakers to
SB 1564 would end
carefully craft
the dual track process
legislation to address
in which a
some of the most
homeowner is
common and
Instead of lo llo w in g the
simultaneously
preventable causes
bipartisan example set b j
negotiating for a loan
of foreclosure.
th
e
ir
Senate
colleagues^
modification while in
During the short
active foreclosure.
House Republican
February legislative
To show you how
session, we
leadership Issned am
necessary these
supported legislators
amendment to SB 1552 that protections are, I
in their efforts to
read lik e a Christmas g ilt to
think it’s best to show
pass three
you an example of
the banking lobby, Their
foreclosure reform
what happens to
bills. Due to the
amendment would have
homeowners without
power of just one
actually
rolled
back
existing
these protections.
Republican
foreclosure protections.
I recently had the
Representative,
opportunity to meet
Gene Whisnant of
Salem resident Ginny
Sunriver, the House
Real at a community
bills were dead
foreclosure forum put
within a week as he
on by Economic Fairness Oregon. Fighting
refused to give them a hearing. We were
back tears, Ginny shared the story of how
undeterred, and continued to work hard on
she lost her south Salem home. She and her
the Senate. Thanks to the dedication of
husband lived there for 24 years. They had a
several bipartisan senators, the compelling
comfortable life. They were happy. But when
testimony of homeowners from across the
her husband suffered major medical issues
state, and an overwhelming public support
and required brain surgery, he and Ginny
for addressing this issue, the Senate
realized they would need to restructure
successfully passed both SB 1552 and SB
their finances. They sought a loan
1564.
modification to the $54,000 remaining on
SB 1552 would implement a mandatory
their home that was worth more than
mediation program in Oregon, giving
$150,000, but were strung along for months,
homeowners facing foreclosure or those
resubmitting piles of paperwork multiple
deeply underwater a chance to sit down
with their lender and a neutral third party to times. One day last July, Ginny got the news
she had waited so long for: The bank said
4
her modification had gone through. But the
next day, her home was sold on the
courthouse steps. She and her husband
were left homeless for several weeks until
they finally secured a place to live with
relatives.
Had SB 1552 & SB 1564 been in place
last summer, Ginny would have had the
chance to sit down with her lender and a
neutral party to discuss ways to restructure
that remaining $54,000. Her bank also
would have been required to make a
decision on her mortgage modification
request before selling her home out from
under her.
While there was broad bipartisan support
for these bills in the Senate, the story was
much different in the House. An unfortunate
truth of politics is that sometimes it doesn’t
matter what the majority believes in, the
power can be placed in the hands of a
certain few who choose to block progress to
advance their own agendas, or sometimes
simply because they can. That’s exactly
what happened when a handful of House
Republicans chose to make a political power
play out of one of the most important issues
facing Oregonians.
Instead of following the bipartisan
example set by their Senate colleagues,
House Republican leadership issued an
amendment to SB 1552 that read like a
Christmas gift to the banking lobby. Their
amendment would have actually rolled back
existing foreclosure protections. These
weren’t the reforms that families like
Ginny’s so desperately need, and they
weren’t acceptable to the advocates,
legislators, and homeowners who have
worked so hard to craft policies that will
actually make a difference.
At the time of this writing, last-ditch
negotiations were still ongoing in the House
in an attempt to rescue SB 1552 and 1564.
By the time you read this, their fate will
likely have been decided. (Visit
economicfairnessoregon.org to find out the
latest.)
Regardless of the outcome, one thing is
clear: The fight to protect struggling
families is far from over. The big banks have
an enormous amount of money and an army
of lobbyists at their disposal-not to mention
several legislators who are all too willing to
do their bidding.
Standing in the corner of regular
Oregonians are organizations such as
Economic Fairness Oregon who are fighting
tooth and nail to level the playing field. But
we can’t do it alone. We need your help to
hold legislators accountable to all
Oregonians, not just corporate special
interests. Here’s how you can help:
- Register to vote and then head to the
polls. There are nearly 800,000 eligible
voters in Oregon who aren’t registered. Are
you one of them? (Head to Oregonvotes.org
to register online.) This is an election year,
and that means if your elected officials
didn’t represent your best interests, you can
vote for someone else.
Make your voice heard. Call or email your
legislators and make sure they’re committed
to protecting the needs of Oregon families.
If you need help finding your legislator, send
us an email at angela@economicfairness.org.
Bringing our economy back to a system
that works for the people instead of against
them is no easy feat. It is riddled with
setbacks. But it s also rife with opportunity.
We are finally on the brink of rewriting rules
of fair play and corporate accountability, but
it will require our collective voice and action
to get there - please join us in our mission
and take part in helping us rebuild a
financial system that benefits us all.