Foreclosures Are All Across the Nation

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Davis) is recognized for 5 minutes.

Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, listening to my colleague from New York, Representative Clarke, it reinforced for me how important it is to deal seriously with the whole question of subprime lending and how vast foreclosures are all across the Nation.

I, like others, have been working with the coalition in my community, and many of them have come up with excellent ideas about what to do. But rather than just massaging the problem, than coming up with solutions, one solution that was put on the table the other day that I liked was the idea that rather than foreclosing on individuals who cannot pay the mortgages, why not rent the property to them and let them continue to live in it paying rent? Who knows, the time may very well come when they can go back to paying the mortgage.

Their lives never would have been disrupted. Plus we're finding that foreclosed properties oftentimes end up being lose-lose situations; that is, it's a loss for the lender as well as a loss for the homeowner, because in many neighborhoods, once a foreclosure occurs and people move out, the houses are boarded up, and of course, vandals prey upon them, destroy everything that was in it.

And so I simply wanted to appreciate all of those individuals who are part of the coalition of community groups and organizations with whom I've been working. And I join with others across the Nation to say to our government that we must correct the subprime lending process. But we also must do something that will aid those individuals who find themselves in tough situations right now.

So I join with Representative Clarke.

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