Joined By Rep. Ellison, Franken Unveils New Steps To Help Minnesotans

Saint Paul [08/02/08] – U.S. Senate candidate Al Franken, joined by Rep. Keith Ellison at a news conference today in North Minneapolis, congratulated Congress on passing a bill over the President’s objections to address the housing crisis, but cautioned that more action is necessary to stem the rising tide of foreclosures and the loss of Minnesota homeowners’ equity.

Al Franken:

“Foreclosures impact not only those at risk of losing their homes, but every middle-class homeowner who relies on their home equity as a means of building wealth. Congress has taken a good first step towards addressing this crisis, but there is work yet to be done. As Minnesota’s Senator, I’ll work with Congressman Ellison to save our communities from the foreclosure spiral, help responsible homeowners save their homes, and crack down on the predatory lenders who contributed to the problem in the first place. George W. Bush and Norm Coleman have stood with the special interests instead of helping Minnesotans and come November we will change that.”

Rep. Keith Ellison:

“I’m excited about Al because I know he’s going to be a partner in Washington. We just passed a bill to help the housing situation and I know that Al is sensitive to the needs of our communities and affordable housing. With a sensitive, charismatic leader like that I know we can get a lot done.”

Franken outlined his plan to address the housing crisis.

1. Protect struggling borrowers.

• Implement a temporary (120-day) moratorium on foreclosures and mandate financial counseling and a “work-out” for anyone at risk of losing their home.
• Allow bankruptcy judges to re-write terms of loans on primary residences.

2. Help communities escape the foreclosure spiral.

• Make significantly more funding available to distressed cities and localities to redevelop – and, where possible, retrofit for energy efficiency – abandoned and foreclosed homes, resulting in construction jobs, pride in new home ownership, a productive tax base, and an increase in neighborhood home values.
• Offer pre-purchase, pre-lending home ownership counseling to reduce the number of people likely to be at risk of foreclosures.

3. Crack down on predatory lending.

• Require a minimum federal standard for state licensing and registration programs for brokers who originate mortgages.
• Establish minimum standards for sub-prime loans, including requiring brokers to prove that borrowers have an ability to pay, and give brokers a fiduciary responsibility to their customers – just like we do in Minnesota.

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 2nd, 2008 at 14:08 and is filed under Press Releases. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.