Dear member of the House and Senate Banking and Finance Committees:

I call on Congress to enact an immediate emergency moratorium on home foreclosures and evictions. Moreover, until the Mortgage Bankers Association agrees to an immediate moratorium on home foreclosures and evictions, I call on members of Congress to refuse to meet with representatives of the MBA during the Association's scheduled lobbying day on Thursday, April 17.

People from across the country who are facing the prospect of losing their homes will be demonstrating in front of the Mortgage Bankers Association's annual policy conference in Washington D.C. on April 16, to demand that the Association formally endorse a call for such a moratorium.

The speedy, expensive, and extraordinary action that the Federal Reserve Bank took in response to the Bears Stearns crisis a few days ago is, in reality, tantamount to a government-enacted moratorium on bank failures.

Congress has its own proposals for bringing relief to people at risk of losing their home. However, none of the proposals are as sweeping, immediate and effective as a moratorium.

The Fed's action required no legislation, no hearings, no studies, no half measures, and no time lag. Why is it, then, that a similar moratorium on home foreclosures and evictions cannot be enacted to stop the largest number of home foreclosures since the Depression of the 1930s?

By refusing to meet with representatives of the MBA on April 17, you will be helping the mortgage banking industry wake up to the fact that they can no longer avoid, ignore, or continue to resist the popular and human demand that they simply stop evicting families from their homes.

Sincerely,
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