The Occupy movement has been active all over the country, trying to prevent foreclosures. It turns out that in many cases, the banks have no idea who has the mortgage papers for the home, and if the homeowner simply asks to see those papers, that the bank will be unable to produce them, and the homeowner will be able to stay.
The best way to prevent foreclosures is to get the banks to refinance the loan. Housing drives the economy. This is the largest expenditure of the average family (35%) so if you can reduce the amount people have to spend on their homes, it boosts the economy.
President Obama just proposed a plan that would allow 3.5 million homeowners to save up to $3000 a year on what they pay on their mortgage by allowing them to refinance at record low interest rates.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/e...Most of the experts think the plan would help millions of homeowners and would also help the economy, with the caveat that they doubt the Republicans would pass the bill.
Part of the plan would allow for the purchase of foreclosed homes. These homes instead of remaining vacant and lowering surrounding home values, would then be turned into rental housing. I personally think the bill doesn't go far enough, because it wouldn't allow the homeowners that are loosing their homes, but who couldn't qualify for refinancing, to remain in their same home as renters.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra...Oregon and several other states have reached an agreement with the five major mortgage servicers, to help homeowners whose mortgages are "Under Water" ( the mortgage is more than the home value). In this agreement between $100 million to $200 million would be available in Oregon to refinance homes. The New York Times estimates that about a million homeowners would have their mortgage burdens lowered by about $20,000. It would also provide another 750,000 families to receive $1800 apiece because they were the victims of improper foreclosure procedures.
http://www.registerguard.com/web/busines... Another good idea is Senate Bill 628 which requires banks to enter into mediation with homeowners to see if the mortgage can be refinanced, before the home is foreclosed on. Please write to your lawmaker asking for support of this bill, because it only has 30 days for consideration.
http://www.needhelppayingbills.com/html/...Most of these bills are opposed by Republicans. Why? Wouldn't most representatives want to help homeowners (at no cost to the public) and get the economy going again?
One reason Republicans oppose helping the homeowners is that all but 13 Republicans in Congress have signed a pledge never to raise taxes for any reason, and they consider the small fee on banks to pay for the housing bill, to be a tax.
The main reason however is a deep philosophical belief that government should be minimized and should not act to help people. They think the housing markets should be allowed to hit bottom and allow the free market to sort everything out.
http://www.democrats.org/news/december-1...Another reason is simply that the Republicans favor the rich more than the poor. The rich are able to snap up foreclosed homes at bargain basement prices, and then flip them for a quick profit. Right now banks are making it more difficult for regular people to buy homes. The rich can afford to pay cash. 32% of foreclosed homes were purchased with cash last year.
http://money.cnn.com/2011/03/10/real_est...This is just my opinion but I suspect that the main reason the Republicans don't want to do what is best for the people, and the country, is that they want the economy to falter which would harm President Obama's reelection chances.