Opinion: Homeowners need help

When I decided to put my name on the ballot seven years ago to get some new ideas heard, one plan was to offer homeowners no-interest bridge loans who were in financial trouble...

http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20111003/OPINION02/710039985

Published October 3, 2011 in the Rutland Herald
Homeowners need help

To Vermont’s federal elected officials:

When I decided to put my name on the ballot seven years ago to get some new ideas heard, one plan was to offer homeowners no-interest bridge loans who were in financial trouble that could either be paid back over time or be paid at time of home sale. I was hoping Sen. Patrick Leahy was listening, but apparently not. My plan would have made a huge difference for a large number of homeowners and would have minimized the number of foreclosures to so many Americans. Even now the housing market is still devastated because no effective action has been taken to fix the problem.

My plan was not only for people losing their jobs, but for significant, unavoidable expenses such as a well going dry, septic system failure and, yes, flood damage.

It would add to the debt but for a positive reason and would only cost us in short-term interest so future generations won’t be heavily burdened by it as with government giveaways.

You voted to bail out the banks because they were “too big to fail.” Help out American homeowners because they are too important to fail.

KEITH STERN

North Springfield