Housing and mortgage-accountability activist groups are urging the Obama administration to reveal the name of the new director appointed to the newly created Mortgage Fraud Task Force after Housing and Urban Affairs Secretary Shaun Donovan announced that such a director was now in place.
President Obama first promised the creation of the task force in his 2012 State of the Union address, as a way “to expand our investigations into the abusive lending and packaging of risky mortgages that led to the housing crisis.”
“This new unit will hold accountable those who broke the law, speed assistance to homeowners, and help turn the page on an era of recklessness that hurt so many Americans,” Obama vowed at the time.
Although it’s been several months since Obama announced the formation of the federal investigation, there has been little to no significant progress to date, activists with National People’s Action (NPA) and The New Bottom Line complain. Donovan revealed the existence of a task force director while addressing an NPA conference in Washington.
“The director of the Mortgage Fraud Task Force has the power to help 11 million underwater homeowners and help the economy recover. We need to start working with him or her without further delay,” says George Goehl, executive director of National People’s Action, a network of grassroots organizations that works to advance a national economic and racial justice agenda.
NPA, in turn, is a member of The New Bottom Line, a growing movement fueled by a coalition of community organizations, congregations, and individuals working together to challenge established big bank interests on behalf of struggling and middle-class communities.
“Every day another 6,296 homes get a foreclosure notice in the mail. We can’t wait to fix the housing crisis,” says Tracy Van Slyke, co-director of The New Bottom Line.
WATCH A VIDEO OF SECRETARY DONOVAN’S REMARKS HERE:
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