By Elijah E. Cummings|March 21, 2008
My parents, former sharecroppers from South Carolina, moved to Maryland to achieve their dreams of a prosperous future for their family. Although they had no more than a grade school education, they worked hard and were able to sacrifice and save enough to buy a home.
I will never forget the day we moved into that house 46 years ago. Although I was only 10, I can still clearly remember Mr. Bracken, the seller, and Mr. Brevard, the man who handed my family a set of keys - keys that unlocked many doors of opportunities for my family.
Moving into our house changed our lives, giving my family a stable foundation. Buying that home allowed my parents to build a little wealth. As a result, my six siblings and I were all able to attend college.
As Americans, we are raised to believe that any family willing to work hard deserves this same transforming opportunity. That's why any threat to the dream of homeownership is so disturbing.
Our nation is in the midst of a serious national crisis in the housing market, the effects of which are spilling over into other sectors of our struggling economy and hurting families everywhere.
The problem is particularly acute with subprime mortgages. Over the past five years, the number of these loans has jumped from 8 percent to about 20 percent of the mortgage market.
More than 1.4 million families lost their homes to foreclosure last year, an increase of 75 percent from 2006. Moreover, one in five of the subprime loans issued in the past two years is expected to go into default, costing an additional 2.2 million families their homes.
Maryland is not immune to this crisis, and the 7th Congressional District, which I represent, has been hit particularly hard. Foreclosures in the 7th have increased by nearly 600 percent in the past two years. Our state now ranks 15th in the country for foreclosures, up from 40th last year.
Those who are not at risk of foreclosure can still be hurt by the fallout. Foreclosures are linked to increases in vandalism and crime in neighborhoods. Additionally, for every home that undergoes foreclosure, the surrounding homes decrease in value.
Nearly 8.8 million homeowners owe more on their homes than they are worth - levels we have not seen since the Depression - and another 41 million homes not facing foreclosure are estimated to decline in value by $202 billion as additional subprime foreclosures lower the prices of surrounding homes.
