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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact:
June 21, 2012 Camila Gallardo
(305) 215-4259
cgallardo@nclr.org
MIAMI—For millions of Americans, including communities of color, working families, and seniors, the housing crisis is far from over. To stave off unnecessary foreclosures that continue to be all too common across the country, NCLR (National Council of La Raza) and other leading civil rights and advocacy organizations have come together to launch the Home for Good campaign town hall tour in this crucial election year. The partnering groups are Center for American Progress, Center for Responsible Lending, Empowering and Strengthening Ohio’s People, Greenlining, Homes on the Hill, Kirwan Institute, National CAPACD, National Fair Housing Alliance, National Urban League, Nuestra Voz, Líderes Del Valle De Sonoma Inc., and The Opportunity Agenda.
“This country is in desperate need of a resolution to the housing crisis if we hope to keep the dream of homeownership alive for the next generation,” said Janis Bowdler, Director of the Wealth-Building Policy Project at NCLR. “Voters are paying incredibly close attention to proposals that our presidential candidates put forward to make sure that they are offering concrete solutions. Homeowners cannot afford lip service from the leaders of this country while they are still losing their homes at astonishing rates.”
Today, at a town hall in Miami, leading experts and housing officials engaged the local community in a solutions-oriented dialogue and challenged the presidential candidates to commit to addressing problems in the housing market that have stymied neighborhood revitalization and led to Americans losing their homes to foreclosure. South Florida has been disproportionately affected by the housing crisis; in May, foreclosures spiked 11 percent, and Florida is among the states with the largest increase (83 percent since last year) in scheduled foreclosures.
The Home for Good campaign partners challenged the presidential candidates to share their plans to:
• Stop needless foreclosures
• Expand affordable rental housing
• Revive a sustainable path to homeownership
Participants in the town halls also discussed a number of important developments for homeowners that have occurred over the past year, including the historic $25 billion multistate settlement between the Attorneys General and five of the largest loan servicers.
“The decision that voters make in the 2012 election is going to have a tremendous impact on housing policy in the coming years,” added Bowdler. “We need to make sure that our elected officials are standing behind struggling homeowners and renters.”
Upcoming town halls this summer are scheduled for Columbus, Ohio and the District of Columbia. For more information and updates about the Home for Good campaign, please visit www.myhomeforgood.com.
NCLR—the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States—works to improve opportunities for Latinos. For more information on NCLR, please visit www.nclr.org, or follow along on Facebook and Twitter.
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