Elana Levin

Why Spitzer should stop foreclosures right now

Monday's Albany Times Union included an oped by DMI's executive director, Andrea Batista Schlesinger and Joel Barkin, the executive director of Progressive States Network.

In their oped, "State needs to halt home foreclosures" they advise Gov. Spitzer to enact a moratorium on foreclosures right away and also implement Minnesota-style mortgage reforms.

The oped makes strong policy AND political arguments for this course of action.

With President Bush's anemic proposal to assist homeowners meeting with lukewarm responses, the table is set for Spitzer to send a bold message that New York is capable of leading the nation in addressing one of the most pressing issues of our time. There is already a growing movement within the state Senate's Democratic Conference to propose a six-month foreclosures moratorium. By ensuring the passage of such legislation, Spitzer could regain lost allies and start to build the kind of broad-based coalition necessary to move legislation on other pressing issues affecting working families such as affordable healthcare.

Since we know that Spitzer is reading up on biographies, we're sure he knows about what Franklin Delano Roosevelt did in similar circumstances to protect the interests of ordinary citizens in the face of economic meltdown and corporate greed.

Read the full op-ed "State needs to halt home foreclosures" online here.

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Posted at 4:13 AM, Jan 04, 2008 in Economic Opportunity | Economy | Financial Justice | Housing | New York
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