2,000-plus residents helped at Making Home Affordable event

June 21, 2011

More than 2,150 metro Atlanta residents facing foreclosure attended the two-day Help for Homeowners event in College Park last weekend held by Reps. Hank Johnson, John Lewis and David Scott.

More than 20 lenders, representing better than 80 percent of the mortgage market, were on hand to assist stressed homeowners avoid foreclosure.

The event, co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of Treasury, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Hope Now Alliance, Making Home Affordable and NeighborWorks America, was held Friday, June 17 and Saturday, June 18 at the Georgia International Convention Center.

"Making Home Affordable program is a good start but more needs to be done," said Rep. Johnson, who passed the first anti-predatory lending law in Georgia as a DeKalb County commissioner in 2001.

"While foreclosure rates in metro Atlanta are down 8% from last year, they are still way too high. Homeowners are stressed. These kinds of events are a positive way to make a difference, but the problem is bigger than one foreclosure prevention event. This is the third Help for Homeowners event we've put together, and I believe we'll be doing another one next year and into the foreseeable future until we get a handle on this crisis."

Since 2009, Johnson’s office has assisted more than 650 residents with pending foreclosures.

The free event offered homeowners a chance to meet one on one with their lenders, find out if they qualify for President Obama’s Making Home Affordable program and offered the platform for struggling homeowners to work out other options with their lenders.

Photo top: Hank is briefed by officials from the Treasury Department and HUD as he makes his way through the main hall during the Help for Homeowners event at the Georgia International Convention Center on Friday, June 17, 2011.

Photo above: Hank reaches out to constituent Gail Lundy of Scottdale during the Help for Homeowners event at the Georgia International Convention Center on Friday, June 17, 2011.

###