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For Immediate Release
Contact: Andrew Sousa
(202) 735-0501
Civil rights and community-based housing organizations call for increased principal reduction, more transparency in various foreclosure settlements
WASHINGTON—Calling for principal reduction and more transparency in implementation of the National Mortgage Settlement, the nation’s leading civil rights groups will host a summit with the settlement Monitor and community-based housing advocates on Wednesday, February 27, 2013 from 9:30 a.m. to noon. The summit will examine how communities of color are benefitting from loan modifications, principal reduction and other measures designed to help borrowers keep their homes.
The National Mortgage Settlement, an agreement between 49 state Attorneys General, was designed to provide up to $25 billion in relief to eligible borrowers who lost their homes to foreclosure. Joseph A. Smith, the Monitor overseeing the agreement, will discuss the recent release of the third Monitor’s report, which outlines the current status of the settlement and the type of relief that borrowers are receiving from the five servicers that were part of the settlement. A panel of representatives from community-based housing counseling organizations will discuss the impact of the National Mortgage Settlement in their communities, which have been hardest hit by deceptive mortgage lending practices, and the challenges they face in getting relief to underwater homeowners.
The Attorneys General Settlement and Communities of Color: Exploring the Challenge and Promise of Principal Reduction
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
9:30 a.m. — 12:00 p.m. EST
Constance Milstein and Family Global Academic Center
1307 L Street, NW
Washington, DC 20005
Speakers and Interview Opportunities:
Joseph A. Smith, Jr., Monitor, Office of Mortgage Settlement Oversight
Janet Murguía, President and CEO, National Council of La Raza
Lisa Hasegawa, Executive Director, National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development
Cy Richardson, Vice President of Housing and Community Development, National Urban League
Drew Astolfi, State Director, Faith Action for Community Equity, Honolulu, Hawaii
Aracely Panameño, Director of Latino Affairs, Center for Responsible Lending, Washington, DC
Mark Seifert, Executive Director, Empowering and Strengthening Ohio’s People, Cleveland, Ohio
The event is hosted by the Alliance for Stabilizing Our Communities (ASOC), a collaborative of the National Urban League, National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development, and the National Council of La Raza. ASOC is a multicultural coalition focused on foreclosure mitigation efforts, homebuyer counseling, and public education for low- and moderate-income individuals and communities of color. The partnership draws its strength from the 95 housing counseling organizations that are part of the NCLR, NUL, and National CAPACD affiliate networks, collectively serving nearly 115,000 families each year.
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The National Urban League (http://www.nul.org/www.nul.org) is a historic civil rights organization dedicated to economic empowerment in order to elevate the standard of living in historically underserved urban communities. Founded in 1910 and headquartered in New York City, the National Urban League spearheads the efforts of its local affiliates through the development of direct service programs; and through the public policy research and advocacy activities of the National Urban League Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. Today, there are nearly 100 local Urban League affiliates in 36 states and the District of Columbia, providing direct services that impact and improve the lives of more than two million people nationwide.
The National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development (National CAPACD) was founded in 1999 with the mission to be a powerful voice for the unique community development needs of AAPI communities and to strengthen the capacity of community‐based organizations to create neighborhoods of hope and opportunity. For more information, visit our website here and follow us on Twitter: @CAPACD.
NCLR—the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States—works to improve opportunities for Hispanic Americans. For more information on NCLR, please visit www.nclr.org or follow along on Facebook and Twitter.