Foreclosures and evictions are devastating working families around the country.  One in nine homeowners nationwide is either behind in their mortgage payments or their family homes are in foreclosure. Over 72,000 homeowners have lost their homes in the Detroit area alone. The vacant home rate in Detroit is 18 percent, second only to New Orleans.

Michigan has led the nation in foreclosures caused by the predatory sub-prime lending crisis on top of a severe economic downtown.  One in every 137 homes in Michigan is in foreclosure. Michigan leads the country in unemployment and poverty.

Since the federal government has now taken over and bailed out the big mortgage firms of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac at taxpayer expense, it is the government's responsibility to bail out and protect those who need it most -- working people and their families, the elderly and the disabled who are facing foreclosure and eviction!

The Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures and Evictions has been in the forefront of a mass struggle to win a moratorium or freeze on foreclosures. It is organizing throughout Michigan demanding passage of SB 1306, a two-year foreclosure moratorium law introduced in the Michigan Legislature by state Sen. Hansen Clarke. SB 1306 is the boldest Moratorium bill currently in front of a state legislature.   It would set a precedent for the entire country!  And it would provide a strong impetus for people fighting for a moratorium in other states.

The Coalition is organizing a mass demonstration in Lansing, Mich. on September 17, when hundreds of activists and foreclosure victims will surround the State Capitol to demand passage of SB 1306 and stop the foreclosure crisis devastating families and neighborhoods en masse.

See www.moratorium-mi.org for more information.

The Moratorium NOW! Coalition has already scored important victories in the fight against foreclosures and evictions in Michigan:

• Through a community rally and picket of Bank of America, we successfully stopped the foreclosure of Ruby Curl-Pinkins, a 72-year-old disabled woman, scheduled to be evicted from her home of 35 years by Countrywide.

• We have intervened with direct action to insure that other families facing foreclosure remained in their homes even after bailiffs came to evict them.

• We successfully fought HUD’s policy of violating its own regulations by not allowing continued occupancies of FHA-backed homes by tenants after foreclosure.

• We won an important First Amendment victory that guaranteed the right of anti-foreclosure activists to leaflet and petition at sham “prevent foreclosure forums” organized by Michigan’s pro-business attorney general for the banks and financial interests.

• We have helped sponsor legal challenges that have called into question the right of MERS, the Mortgage Electronic Registration System, to carry out foreclosures. MERS currently is the foreclosing party in tens of thousands of foreclosures in Michigan and millions nationwide.

ACT NOW TO HELP US CONTINUE THIS STRUGGLE!.

What you can do:

Join us at the State Capitol in Lansing, on Sept. 17:
11:00 a.m., East Steps of the Capitol
(see www.moratorium-mi.org)

Send email messages to the members of the Michigan Legislature and the Governor demanding enactment NOW of the 2 year Moratorium at
http://www.moratorium-mi.org/petition.shtml

Donate to help finance buses and vans to bring people facing foreclosure to Lansing on Sept. 17!  at
http://www.moratorium-mi.org/donate.shtml

The Moratorium NOW! Coalition needs funds to continue the struggle to win a moratorium on foreclosures in this hard-hit state.   Funds are needed to help with printing costs, phone calls, travel costs to get the word out around the state about this vital demonstration.  Every donation raised comes from grass-roots donors. 
Donate Now at http://www.moratorium-mi.org/donate.shtml.

Moratorium NOW! Coalition
To Stop Foreclosures and Evictions
23 E. Adams, 4th Floor
Detroit, MI 48226
313-887-434