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Responding to Mortgage Crisis
The Vicar for Human Services in the diocese, Msgr. Alfred LoPinto, recently called the nationwide epidemic of home foreclosures “the most serious financial crisis since the Depression.”
Working together with Senator Charles Schumer and Assemblyman Vito Lopez, the Diocese has responded with a series of 10 parish workshops to provide people who are threatened with foreclosure with information that may help them to forestall or avoid foreclosure. If foreclosure is inevitable, families will be given the financial resources to move to a new home and to keep their families afloat during a traumatic time.
It is good to see the Church and elected officials working together on an issue that will have wide-ranging consequences in Brooklyn and Queens.
At a Catholic Charities sponsored Mortgage Crisis Forum at St. John’s University (see page 9), a panel of housing advocates outlined the situation and discussed ways to deal with it.
How did this crisis come about?
“The single cause was greed,” explained Stephen Levin, chief of staff for Assemblyman Vito Lopez. Unregulated mortgage brokers took advantage of people who had the “American Dream” of home ownership. People with low incomes and sometimes dubious credit were told that was OK, that they would be able to swing a $500,000 mortgage on a $40,000 salary. Maybe they should have known better. Maybe they were too trusting.
But the mortgage crisis is not going to go away and people who counsel homeowners facing foreclosure see a flood of inquiries that is not abating.
What can be done?
First of all, any homeowner who has had an adjustable rate mortgage, which has ballooned, is probably feeling the tight financial squeeze. Contact a housing advocacy counselor such as Neighborhood Housing Services of NYC (718-919-2100), Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project (212-680-5100) or Margert Community Corp., Far Rockaway (718-471-3724). The experts say the time to do that is when things first get tight. Don’t wait for a foreclosure notice.
Better yet, anyone who is a potential first-time home buyer should take advantage of workshops on the perils of navigating a mortgage. The organizations above offer such workshops.
The mortgage crisis has the potential of reversing progress that has been made over the past two decades in neighborhoods such as Bedford-Stuyvesant, East New York and Far Rockaway. Not only will this affect the homeowners who lose their homes in foreclosure, but also their neighbors and communities. The financial health of parishes in these areas has already been affected by lower collections and parents not able to afford to send their children to Catholic schools.
“This is a shame,” said Bertha Lewis of ACORN, who called for a moratorium on foreclosures as was done during the Depression. Legislation is pending in the State Assembly. Other bills call for regulation of mortgage brokers to protect future home buyers.
The financial health of many families in the diocese depends on the success of the Church and state working together on this issue.
Use Your Hour Wisely
Temperatures seem to be rising by a few degrees each day and the chirping of sparrows can be heard in the tall trees just outside The Tablet’s Prospect Park office windows. The vernal equinox is less than two weeks away.
As if we need more proof that spring is on the horizon, it is time for clocks to spring forward this Sunday, March 9. Daylight Saving Time begins at 2 a.m.
What that means, besides the inconvenience of having to reset watches, coffee makers, VHS/DVD players and computers – oh wait, they actually reset themselves – is that there will be an extra hour of daylight in the evening.
One of the main reasons we change our clocks to Daylight Saving Time is to save energy (something everyone needs to start doing to preserve our planet’s natural resources). The idea is that people will be more inclined to spend that hour making use of God’s natural light, both outside and in their homes.
How often do you wish there was an extra hour in your day? What will you do with your extra hour of light?
Here are some suggestions:
• Go walking, jogging or roller blading in the neighborhood. Make it a family activity.
• Pack some sandwiches and enjoy a picnic dinner in the park.
• Sit on your stoop and invite your next-door neighbors over to chat or for some coffee and cake.
• Go grocery shopping on a weeknight and beat the weekend crowds.
• Sit by your favorite window and read or do homework.
• Go to the gym and workout.
• Check with your parish or local community center to see if they need volunteers one or more evenings per week. Coaching your parish sports team or helping with Bingo is a great way to spend an evening, get to know fellow parishioners and give back to your church.
Don’t forget to change your clocks and use your hour wisely.
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