WATSON COLEMAN TO BUSH:  FORECLOSURE RELIEF NEEDS SOLID FOUNDATION, NOT PRETTY FACADES

Assembly Majority Leader Demands President Make Serious Efforts to Protect At-Risk Mortgage Holders from Threat of Homelessness

(TRENTON) - Assembly Majority Leader Bonnie Watson Coleman today demanded President George W. Bush cease downplaying the serious mortgage and economic crises facing the country, calling on him to offer real federal support for families facing foreclosure.

"For thousands of New Jerseyans, the American dream of homeownership has turned into a nightmare," said Watson Coleman (D-Mercer), a prime sponsor of mortgage foreclosure rescue legislation (A-2517) in New Jersey.  "Yet, despite the wholesale collapse of the subprime mortgage market, the Bush administration has offered little more than token gestures of support for families at the end of their rope."

Watson Coleman said the federal government's anemic support for the 1.3 million households facing foreclosure in 2007 was "despicable."  Members of Congress, state officials, private credit counselors, and third party interest groups all have criticized the federal government's two mortgage foreclosure prevention measures - the Hope Now Alliance, a private mortgage foreclosure counseling hotline and Project Lifeline, a bank-sponsored foreclosure delay program - as not doing nearly enough to protect at risk homeowners.

With a national economy in full-blown recession, the Majority Leader further chastised the recent decision by the Federal Reserve Bank to use taxpayer dollars to help keep an ailing Wall Street bank afloat.

"What kind of message does it send to struggling homeowners in New Jersey and across the rest of the nation when the federal government is willing to invest $30 billion in tax dollars to support big business but refuses to invest in programs to help families being forced into homelessness," said Watson Coleman.

"New Jerseyans don't need more false optimism, they need real relief from the crushing oppression of foreclosure," continued Watson Coleman.  "The President needs to stop sugarcoating the issue and start offering real solutions before our foreclosure crisis becomes a homelessness crisis."

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