The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

Foreclosure Relief

Foreclosure is not a partisan issue, but rather a human and civil rights issue. Today, after years of reckless and predatory lending, our nation finds hundreds and thousands of people at risk of losing their homes – in fact, thousands already have.

And it isn’t just families who are affected. Whole communities are being wrecked. A few foreclosures can set off a domino effect, leading to a rise in crime, devaluation of surrounding residences, the erosion of the local tax base, and a decline in public services.

The Leadership Conference supports legislation that would allow homeowners a final option to modify their mortgages in bankruptcy court, which would reduce foreclosures. It is estimated that 6,600 families are losing their homes to foreclosure every single day.

Current Updates

• New Mortgage Data Shows Recession Hitting Homeowners Hard, Even Those with Good Credit - 5/29/09
• Report: One in Five Homeowners Are 'Under Water' - 5/13/09
• Center for Responsible Lending Tracks Up-To-The-Second Data on Foreclosures - 2/12/09
• Foreclosures Hit Record High in 2008 - 1/15/09

Congressional Testimony

Transcripts of testimony to Congress about the foreclosure crisis by Wade Henderson, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference.

• Strengthening Our Economy: Foreclosure Prevention and Neighborhood Preservation - Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee - 1/31/08
• The Growing Mortgage Foreclosure Crisis: Identifying Solutions and Dispelling Myths - House Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law - 1/29/08
• Ending Mortgage Abuse: Safeguarding Homebuyers - Senate Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, and Community Development - 6/26/07

Past Legislation on Foreclosure & Bankruptcy Relief

Helping Families Save Their Homes Act (Signed May 2009)

The Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009 was signed on May 20, 2009. The Leadership Conference supported a provision that would have given bankruptcy judges the ability to rework defaulted home mortgages on family homes to an affordable value, but the provision was not included in the final bill.

• Amendment to Help Struggling Homeowners Voted Down in the Senate - 4/30/09
• Support the Foreclosure Amendment to the Housing Bill - Advocacy Letter - 4/29/09
• Bill to Help Struggling Homeowners to Get a Vote in the Senate - 4/27/09
• House Passes Bill That Will Provide Mortgage Relief to Struggling Homeowners - 3/5/09

The Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan (Announced Feb. 2009)

• Obama Announces Plan to Address the Foreclosure Crisis and Pledges to Reform Bankruptcy Laws
• President Obama Addresses Bankruptcy Bill to Help Struggling Homeowners
• Geithner Confirmed as Treasury Secretary; Calls for Plan to Address Foreclosures

Helping Families Save Their Homes in Bankruptcy Act of 2008 (not passed)

• LCCR Urges Congress to Pass Bankruptcy Relief For Homeowners to Quell Foreclosure Crisis - 12/09/08

Emergency Economic Stabilization Act (Signed October 2008)

• Senate Presses Banks, Homeowner Advocates on Next Step in Financial Crisis - 11/19/08
• Civil Rights Community Condemns Failure to Include Homeowner Relief in Bailout Bill - Press Release - 9/28/08
• Civil Rights Groups: Bail Out Main Street Too - 9/25/08
• Bankruptcy Provision for Homeowners - Advocacy Letter - 09/22/08

Housing and Economic Recovery Act (Signed July 2008)

• New Housing Law Addresses Foreclosures, but More Help is Needed - 08/11/08
• Support H.R. 3221, the “Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008” - Advocacy Letter - 7/25/08

FHA Housing and Homeowner Retention Act (2008)

• Civil Rights Groups: Mortgage Bill in the House Is a Positive First Step, but Not Enough - 5/7/08

Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008 (Not Passed)

• Senate Drops Key Bankruptcy Provision from Foreclosure Prevention Bill - 4/4/08
• Without Bankruptcy, Senate Housing Package Falls Short – Up to House to Pass Real Foreclosure Relief - 04/03/08
• Without Bankruptcy Help, More Than Half a Million Homeowners Will Be Left Out in the Cold - Press Release - 4/2/08
• Senate Ignores Help for Homeowners, Bankruptcy Change the Most Effective Solution - 04/02/08
• The Senate Has Opportunity to Save 600,000 Families from Foreclosure - Press Release - 4/1/08
• Support Title IV of S. 2636, the "Foreclosure Prevention Act" - Advocacy Letter - 04/01/08
• With Millions of Americans Facing Foreclosure, 45 Senators Put Banks before Their Constituents - 02/29/08
• Senators Use Procedural Vote to Derail Foreclosure Bill - 2/28/08
• LCCR Letter in Support of the Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008 - 02/26/08

More Information about Foreclosure & Bankruptcy Relief

• As Home Foreclosures Climb, Efforts to Help Troubled Homeowners Continue - Civil Rights Monitor Winter 2008
• Issue a Statement that People Facing Foreclosure Retain Their Right to Vote - Advocacy Letter - 10/20/08
• Rep. Waters Joins Housing Experts to Discuss Foreclosure Crisis & Need for Stronger Fair Housing Enforcement - 09/09/08
• Mortgage Lenders Exploit Homeowners in Bankruptcy Courts - 05/15/08
• Subprime Lending Dominates Congressional Hearings on Foreclosure Crisis - 02/06/08
• Addressing Foreclosures: A Great American Dream Neighborhood Stabilization Plan - Report - Center for American Progress - 1/31/08
• Subprime Spillover - Report - Center for Responsible Lending - 11/13/07
• Foreclosure Moratorium Needed Now, Say Civil Rights Groups - 4/11/07 
• National Civil Rights Groups Call for Immediate Moratorium on Foreclosure Resulting from Risky Subprime Loans - 04/04/07
• From Boom to Bust: Helping Families Prepare for the Rise in Subprime Mortgage Foreclosures - Report - Center for American Progress - 3/12/07
• Foreclosure Crisis Will Hit Minority Communities Hardest Says New Report - 12/21/06