Van Jones founder of "Rebuild the Dream" and ""Hope for Homeowners."
Van Jones is taking the lead of a progressive coalition working to build partnerships with corporations and politicians to alleviate collateral damage caused by the mortgage meltdown and subsequent credit crisis. “Hope for Homeowners” and organizations from the thirteen states hardest hit by the 2008 financial crisis plan to deliver petitions to thirteen U.S. Senators, urging them to support legislation aimed at bringing home owners out from under these bad loans.
The petition calls for these senators get behind three proposed bills before the U.S. Senate, all written to help bring these homeowners out from under their upside-down mortgages. The three pieces of legislation are, “The Responsible Homeowners Act,” which helps families refinance with historically low-interest rates “The Rebuild Equity Act,” which helps homeowners get above water faster with shorter mortgages, and the “Expanding Refinancing Opportunities Act,” which expands refinancing options for homeowners with non-federally guaranteed loans. This mortgage relief plan would save 4.2 million homeowners an average of $2,500 each year, a total of $10 billion annually, according to Moody’s Analytics.
“Hope for Homeowners” is committed to insuring that homeowners are not required to pay more than their homes are worth. Although the economy has begun to inch toward recovery, homeowners are not feeling the impact of these economic gains. There are in fact still states where foreclosures are on the rise, partly because banks will not allow these homeowners to refinance their homes.
“While the bankers who put us in this mess roam free, American families are drowning,” said Van Jones, co-founder of Rebuild the Dream and former special adviser to President Obama. “This is just one step toward ending the mortgage crisis, but for millions of Americans it could mean the difference between losing and keeping their homes.”
Jones and the “Rebuild the Dream” foundation have had a considerable impact in aiding many Americans suffering under the burden of these loans. Earlier this year, Jones led a successful campaign organizing an online petition that gathered 65,000 signatures on a holiday weekend and helped stop the unfair eviction of a church in Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s old neighborhood. The 108-year-old church was saved from what many advocates felt amounted to an unfair foreclosure eviction.
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