Rivera: Congress Needs to Bailout Hardworking Homeowners Not Just Wall Street Tycoons

ALBANY, NY (09/19/2008)(readMedia)-- Today, Assemblyman Peter M. Rivera, who in January of 2008 called for a moratorium on home foreclosures and a freeze on interest of sub-prime mortgages to advert a national financial crisis, released a letter to Congressional leaders requesting that any financial bailout package for Wall Street must include a stabilization aspect for millions of homeowners and their families who are still caught in the nightmare of sub-prime mortgages and eminent foreclosure.

According to Rivera, "Earlier this year I called for passage of a resolution, to enact homeowners and bank protections, which I introduced in the state legislature with 42 bipartisan co-sponsors. The resolution asked Congress to take emergency action to protect homeowners and banks in an effort to safeguard the New York and national economy from the irresponsible behavior of Wall Street executives."

Today, as Congress and the federal government are prepared to bailout the Wall Street firms and banks whose irresponsible behavior has created economic chaos in the United States and abroad, Rivera has taken his advocacy on behalf of struggling New York homeowners to Congress in a tough-worded letter to Congressional leaders. According to Rivera, in Queens and Bronx Counties alone, almost 50% of all the mortgages issued earlier this decade were sub-prime mortgages and the rates of foreclosure in these communities is staggering and destructive.

The letter, addressed to U.S. House of Representative Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, calls on Congress to show the same respect for struggling homeowners as it is showing Wall Street multi-billionaires by including both a moratorium on home foreclosures and a freeze on interest rates of sub-prime mortgages in the financial bailout being drafted by Congress and corporate leaders this weekend.

Rivera stated, "It is inconceivable to me and many of my colleagues in the New York State Legislature that a plan can be fashioned, over the next few days, which will not extend the same protections being discussed for Wall Street tycoons to struggling families across our nation."

"As you know, there are almost 5 million homes either delinquent or in foreclosure proceedings in the United States...For countless hardworking families, paying more than 60% of their disposable income on rent drove them to take on mortgages which they thought would provide them with a piece of the American Dream and financial security for their families," the letter continued.

"It is well understood that the next wave of foreclosures will begin next year when Option ARMs and interest-only loans are scheduled to reset. Without Congressional action at this critical time in our history, millions more will be left homeless, more families will be shattered, and the financial problems facing our economy will only worsen," Rivera wrote.

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