I thought you guys would be interested in watching this.
PBS Newshour's Gwen Infill reported this story. Video is below the fold:
Here's a partial part of the transcript:
http://www.pbs.org/...
GWEN IFILL: Next: a second story about government officials pushing back against banks and other lenders, this one focused on the aftermath of the mortgage meltdown.
In Northern California, a town is on the verge of taking unprecedented action to help underwater homeowners. Will other cities follow suit?
HARI SREENIVASAN: Jazz musician Morris LeGrande spends a lot of time jamming in the small recording studio in the back of his Richmond, California, home. He and his wife Luajuana, both 57, were first-time homeowners when they bought their place in 2004 for $310,000.
Several years later, when the property was appraised at nearly half-a-million dollars, they refinanced and used the money to do some home repairs.
LUAJUANA LEGRANDE, homeowner: This was on sale, actually.
HARI SREENIVASAN: But the LeGrandes' dream of paying off their home one day was shattered in 2007, when the housing bubble burst, and like so many families across America, they found themselves underwater on their mortgage, owing more than their home was worth, much more.
MORRIS LEGRANDE, homeowner: We're currently $270,000 underwater. It weighs on me heavily. I have had some sleep issues over the years.
LUAJUANA LEGRANDE: You only get what you absolutely need. Every now and again, you can splurge and get ice cream.
HARI SREENIVASAN: Their street has been hit hard, too.
MORRIS LEGRANDE: This white house down, that home was lost to foreclosure and resold. This green house here, that was lost twice.
HARI SREENIVASAN: The couple is current on their mortgage payments, due to help they receive from the federal government's Home Affordable Modification Program, which cut their ballooning monthly payments nearly in half, but they say foreclosure is a very real possibility unless they can reduce the amount they owe.
MORRIS LEGRANDE: I don't see staying here, pouring any more money into this house, knowing that in the end I'm going to have to say, here you go, you can have it back.
Another part of the video, per this portion of the transcript, shows Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin taking charge and doing everything in her power to prevent residents in Richmond affected by the foreclosure crisis from being pushed out of their homes or getting further underwater in their mortgages.
http://www.pbs.org/...
HARI SREENIVASAN: But the LeGrandes and other families in Richmond who are on the brink of foreclosure say they now have hope of keeping their homes, thanks to this woman.
GAYLE MCLAUGHLIN, mayor of Richmond, Calif.: They say, no, we can't. We say, yes, we can.
(APPLAUSE)
HARI SREENIVASAN: Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin, a former teacher and member of the Green Party, is on a crusade to stop foreclosures she says have devastated her working-class, predominantly minority community.
Despite rising home prices in many areas of the country, half of all Richmond homes are currently underwater, and nearly 20 percent of homeowners have gone through foreclosure.
According to PBS Newshour, not a single financial institution has accepted the City of Richmond's offer in relationship to preventing further foreclosures.
It has become apparent though that the City of Richmond and Mayor McLaughlin are taking leadership on the foreclosure situation and working in any way they can to prevent things from getting worse for the city.
In a recent special article in an issue I received from the San Francisco Business Times, Richmond as of recent years is getting more business development activity and things are picking up slowly but surely for the city on that front.
However, it's become clear that the foreclosure problems in Richmond are still a lagging problem the city has to deal with because as Mayor McLaughlin states, it isn't just homes people are losing. Crime occurs as well and home values drop down significantly.
Should City of Richmond and Mayor McLaughlin's leadership be a lesson of how other local governments in California and elsewhere in the U.S. affected by foreclosure crisis handle the situation?