GRP Candidates Unanimously Support Bill and Decry Legislative Inaction

July 26, 2010. For Immediate Release

The Green-Rainbow Party calls on the Massachusetts Legislature to adopt, without delay, "An Act to stabilize neighborhoods" (H 4595, a.k.a. "the foreclosure bill"). As summarized by City Life/Vida Urbana & MAAPL, the bill

"...would prevent foreclosing banks from evicting tenants `no-fault' in buildings banks own after foreclosure. The law would only affect foreclosing banks, not subsequent owners. The proposed law would not require state funding. It will help homeowners facing foreclosure by making banks make a good faith offer for a loan modification to prevent foreclosure or the bank will have to wait an additional 60 days up to a total of 150 days before it can foreclosure. This will provide incentives for more good faith negotiation by banks."

The legislation will also make mortgage fraud a criminal action and assist localities in rehabilitating foreclosed properties.

The state Senate has passed the same legislation unanimously, and the GRP stands with other organizations, including City Life/Vida Urbana and The Massachusetts Alliance Against Predatory Lending, in urging the legislature do likewise. With foreclosures across the state forecast to top 12,000 this year, the bill requires immediate action, as the legislative session expires at the end of the week.

Michael Horan, Green-Rainbow Party co-chair, urged state legislators to "focus on matters of real and pressing importance to the citizens of the commonwealth."

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