Activists demand real change as foreclosures mount

Hundreds of thousands of people in the U.S. continue to lose their homes each month in an ongoing crisis that is wreaking chaos on communities, advocates say. Millions are out of work and high mortgage interest rates are kicking in, and many families can't keep up with their mortgage payments, housing advocates say. The U.S. Department of Labour reported Friday that a record number of people are out of work. "People are so far behind,'' Stephanie Portea, director of ACORN in Florida, told IPS. ACORN housing experts in Florida work with hundreds of families each month who are facing foreclosure, to try and help them stay in their homes. ACORN is one of many non-profits that are shouldering most of the burden of stemming the tide on a foreclosure-by-foreclosure basis. A recent White House report found that mortgage lenders are doing little to help people facing foreclosure, despite generous government incentives to do so. "Some of the banks are getting a bit better. But most are not,'' Portea said. The biggest reason foreclosures are still happening is that banks are not willing to seriously negotiate the loans they made, some of which have extremely high interest rates, she said. "It almost doesn't matter what the economy is like if the banks aren't doing loan modifications,'' Portea said.