The foreclosure crisis is a national disaster. The government, social service agencies and the faith based communities should treat it as such and respond.
When a tornado, flood or hurricane strikes a community, our nation’s governors generally use 100 damaged or destroyed houses as the benchmark to declare a disaster and ask for federal assistance.
There are over 18.5 million vacant houses in America. Meanwhile, nearly 6 million Americans live in poverty housing, not counting those who are homeless or living with relatives. As many as 3 million children have lost their homes to foreclosure and another 8 million are at risk because they are living in rental units that are at risk of foreclosure.
The White House should host a national summit with advocates and faith based leaders.