CC: President Bush, Treasury Secretary Paulson, members of the House and Senate Banking and Finance Committees, Congressional leaders, and members of the media

Dear Director Lockhart,

As one who is deeply concerned that we are currently experiencing the greatest home foreclosure crisis since the Great Depression, I call upon you as the appointed conservator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to Declare an Emergency Federal Moratorium on home foreclosures.

The takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by the federal government is a de facto declaration of a State of Emergency by the federal government, brought on by the foreclosure epidemic.

The federal government now holds or insures the majority of the country’s mortgages. Under current U.S. law, when there is a federal declaration of a State of Emergency, there is an automatic mandatory 90 day Moratorium on Foreclosures on all FHA-insured homes. This mandatory Moratorium on Foreclosures is outlined in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Handbook 4330.1 REV-5 and also in the HUD Mortgagee Letter 2005-33, dated August 31, 2005. Most recently, a Moratorium on Foreclosures was implemented in areas affected by Hurricane Gustav. The 90 day foreclosure moratoriums have often been extended until the crisis subsides.

Likewise, the first action of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), the agency set up to take over and/or insure all Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgages, should be to automatically impose a moratorium on foreclosures of mortgages held or insured by this new agency.

Such an action, mandated under federal law, would ensure that the benefits of the takeover extend to the real victims of this crisis, the homeowners entering foreclosure nationwide.

On September 17 and September 20, homeowners and activists will be demonstrating in Michigan, California and Massachusetts in support of legislation or executive action at the state level which would enact an emergency moratorium on home foreclosures. However, clearly it would be preferable for a moratorium on foreclosures to be enacted on a national basis. All three demonstrations will be raising the demand for a national, federal moratorium on foreclosures.

If the U.S. government can bail out Wall Street banks and take over the two largest mortgage institutions, which will cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars and put the U.S. government in more or less direct control of the entire mortgage industry, why can’t it stop between 8,000 and 9,000 families from losing their homes to foreclosures every single day?

As you know, the foreclosure crisis has long since reached beyond its original subprime mortgage holders. Today almost 10% of all who hold mortgages are threatened with foreclosures.

The legislation that Congress passed this summer merely promises help to those lenders who voluntarily agree to re-negotiate mortgages. This measure will only save a relatively few homes.

It’s highly doubtful that any of the bankers that are being bailed out by the government were ever in danger of literally losing the roof under which they and their families sleep. Instead it is ordinary working people who are finding out daily what it is like to lose that roof.

I say enough is enough. I urge you and all others to act on behalf of the people and enact a moratorium now on all foreclosures.

Sincerely,
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