OhioFrom Cleveland, WKYC-TV reports (streaming video) on a congressional hearing that was held in Northeast Ohio on Monday because of the growing problem of foreclosures and predatory lending.
“How in the world, other than a hearing like this, would people ever get a chance to be heard on their neighborhood's falling apart because of an avalanche of foreclosures?” asked congressman Dennis Kucinich.
The local Federal Reserve spokeswoman said they are actively involved in foreclosure activities but policy decisions are made in Washington, not Ohio.
From Columbus, the Enquirer reports: “Ohio’s Foreclosure Prevention Task Force held its fourth meeting today in what was billed as an opportunity for borrowers facing foreclosure or people who’ve been through the foreclosure process to tell their stories.”
“Mark Lawson, a senior attorney for the Legal Aid Society of Southwest Ohio, told the panel that his organization has so many people calling for help with mortgage-related problems that it can’t begin to handle them all.”
“This is an epidemic. You think it’s bad now? You have a tsunami of foreclosures on its way,” said Tom Conley, a “self-described foreclosure intervention specialist from Columbus who said he went through a foreclosure a year ago” and who warns that “investor seminars are being offered around the country teaching people how to profit from people saddled with overvalued houses and mortgages they can’t afford.”
The full article can be read here.
The Ohio Foreclosure Prevention Task Force was established by Ohio Governor Ted Strickland, in early 2007. According to RealtyTrac, the state wide average in Ohio for foreclosure filings was one for every 59 households, higher than the national average of one foreclosure filing for every 92 households.
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