Sub Prime Mortgages on Staten Island

State Senator Diane Savino wrote into the Advance to talk about the administration and Vito Fossella's lack of action to solve the problem;

Staten Island was given the dubious honor in January of being the only borough with an increase in foreclosures. As reported by Karen O'Shea in the Jan. 16 edition of the Advance, foreclosures on the Island jumped by 53 percent by the end of 2007.

snip

The White House's response is too little, too late. Last December, U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson announced a plan where lenders agreed to temporarily freeze rates on certain ARM's. Unfortunately, this will only apply to individuals with good credit histories, whose mortgages reset in January, leaving out thousands of homeowners who truly need help.

Rep. Vito Fossella's proposal allowing seniors to dip into their retirement accounts to avoid foreclosure is hardly the panacea, either. The proposal, referred to by an AARP spokesperson as a "last resort," may put seniors at risk of losing their life savings. If Congressman Fossella were serious about tackling this crisis, he would have voted for HR 3915, a bill that would have reformed abusive practices in the subprime industry.