Yesterday I was honored to be on a call with America's leading mayors and the US Conference of Mayors to talk about a huge problem affecting cities from coast to coast: the foreclosure crisis.

I've been talking about how a family is losing their home every 13 seconds for awhile now and the recent failure by Congress to enact bankruptcy reform to protect homeowners because of industry pressure was a real blow to stopping that clock.  

But the failure in Washington isn't going to stand in the way of ACORN's push to address the crisis at the heart of the economic meltdown and teaming up with some of the leading mayors in the United States is a major way we're moving forward to help families stay in their homes.

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In America, a family is losing its home every 13 seconds.  

This appalling statistic brings home the punishment working families are taking from the foreclosure crisis, a crisis acting like a cancer on the economic recovery.  We at ACORN applauded President Obama's "Making Home Affordable" plan to stop 3 to 4 million of the expected 9 million foreclosures over the next four years, but more needs to be done - much more.  

As documented in a new report that ACORN released Wednesday, "Road to Rescue", strong community organizing resulted in Philadelphia pioneering the most successful anti-foreclosure program in the country.  

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On Tuesday, the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act, a bill sponsored by Jon Conyers in the House that would empower judges to write down the principal and interest payments on some mortgages (aka "cram-down legislation"), will finally come up for a vote. The bill had been delayed thanks to effective pressure from the financial services industry on Blue Dog and New Democrats. President Obama and progressive Democrats in Congress support the legislation and in fact it would be central to Obama's plan to help keep more Americans in their homes (watch Brave New Foundation's interview with Conyers for a more complete picture of the bill.)

So, what level of pressure will the Obama administration apply to get this cram-down bill passed in its current form? As Chris Bowers notes, Shaun Donovan will be going directly to the House caucus on Monday.

On Monday, Housing Secretary Shaun Donovan will speak to House Democrats, and make a direct appeal for not narrowing or otherwise watering down the cram-down legislation. The administration does hold a lot of sway with congressional Democrats right now, and is riding high in the polls, so this appeal might just work. Let's hope so.

But the pressure is going to have to come from us as well. To that end, over at FightingForOurHomes, Brave New Foundation is asking that we call our representatives to urge them to support this legislation and that we sign their petition that reads:

Judicial modifications of home mortgages is a modest fix that will prevent hundreds of thousands of families from facing the devastation of foreclosure. This sensible legislation will help working and middle class families stay afloat in challenging times. We urge our elected representatives to stand up for homeowners by supporting H.R. 1106 and its counterpart in the Senate.

The banks have received their bailouts; it's time for working homeowners to be put first.

In addition, tomorrow, MoveOn members in certain districts (with representatives on the fence) should expect an e-mail blast urging them to do the same.

The fact is, as Chris Bowers points out:

In advance of the vote, The Center for Responsible Lending has a useful chart up showing that 800,000 homeowners, or 10% of all American homeowners facing foreclosure, could be saved from foreclosure by "cramdown" legislation. Among the 86 congressional districts represented by either a New Democrat or a Blue Dog, 143,672 homeowners are projected to be saved from foreclosure by cramdown legislation.

Sadly, the pressure on the centrist Dems to, at best, water down this legislation and at worst, kill it, is considerable; it's our job to let those House members know that we're watching and we'll hold them accountable if they side with banks over homeowners.

Check out BNF's brand new video that exposes the corrupt mortgage business and profiles one former homeowner who represents exactly the sort of situation that cram-down legislation was designed to prevent:

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"No homes for sale!"

"No homes for sale!"

"No homes for sale!"

It took me about 7 seconds to say that chant three times. Six seconds later another family in America entered the foreclosure process.

ACORN members know what that does to a family and to a community. So today, 300 ACORN members took over the Mitchell Courthouse in Baltimore, Maryland singing and chanting as they overwhelmed the 20 or so sheriff's deputies assigned to "protect" auctioneers from selling off foreclosed properties.

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"Elizabeth and I are deeply saddened by today's senseless violence in Omaha. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families and with the community as it begins to deal with the aftermath of this tragedy." - John Edwards

Here at Edwards Evening News, our hearts go out to those families as well.

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