[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 15016]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              FORECLOSURES

  (Mr. CARDOZA asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. CARDOZA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my concern for the 
devastating toll the housing crisis is taking on the neighborhoods of 
my district and throughout the country.
  A report issued this week identified three cities in my district as 
having the highest rates of foreclosure in the entire Nation. In 
Stockton, Merced and Modesto, California, families are struggling to 
make increasing mortgage payments. Homeowners have lost over 40 percent 
of their homes' equity and communities are burdened with vacant, 
deteriorating housing. These vacant properties lower home values, 
attract vandalism and pests and contribute to overall neighborhood 
decline, as well as disrupting the family unit. At this rate, my 
district and communities across the country will be recovering from the 
foreclosure epidemic for years to come.
  Borrowers and lenders have a duty to their country to help us 
overcome this housing crisis. Homeowners should try to work with banks 
instead of abandoning their homes. And financial institutions must 
restructure mortgages whenever feasible.
  During the Great Depression, families and banks worked together to 
help America through these tough times. I urge us to get back to that 
attitude.

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