Congressman Kucinich is in town today for hearings on foreclosures. On Friday, ESOP, the Cleveland-based organization that's been at the forefront of the crisis since long before Washington and the mainstream media even knew there was a problem, announced that it's buckling under the strain of the banking industry's indifference to people losing their homes:
At a Congressional field hearing on Monday, ESOP will ring the alarm on the federal government’s failure to address the ongoing foreclosure crisis in Ohio and, as a result, the looming extinction of foreclosure counseling groups like Empowering and Strengthening Ohio’s People (ESOP).… ESOP’s Executive Director Mark Seifert will testify on the second of two panels. He will focus on the documented impact of foreclosure prevention counseling on Ohio’s ongoing foreclosure crisis and how, without immediate congressional action, these counseling services will vanish the first quarter of 2010 due to a lack of funding.
While all signs point to an ever-growing problem of foreclosures that won’t even PEAK until late 2010, according to Rick Sharga, a top executive at the real estate data firm Realty Trac, lenders continue to give homeowners the runaround and devise new ways to manipulate families facing foreclosure. The foreclosure prevention and counseling services that have emerged as a lifeline for homeowners who don’t know where to turn or get lost in the process are in danger.
Read Seifert's prepared statement after the jump.
