In case you aren't quite convinced to follow Dan's suggestion, above, to call Specter, here's a little back-up for him. This whole industry friendly foo-fah going on with the Hope Now Alliance is not cause for much hope. We need something stronger. Yesterday, PUP did an informational picket outside a HOPE NOW event.

In our press release, John Dodds, Director of the Philadelphia Unemployment Project, explained: “With sub prime loans increasing dramatically in Philadelphia in the past three years from 20% in 2004 to 37% in 2006 we need more than a public relations road show to protect families and neighborhoods from this crisis."

Hope Now Alliance Hotline has gained a reputation for causing frustration and minimal help to large numbers of homeowners trying to use their services. The Alliance is heavily dominated by the mortgage industry.

“They didn’t even reach out for local housing counselors until this Tuesday for a large scale event a week away”, said Pam Kennebrew a housing counselor for the Unemployment Information Center. “The phone number for the flyer they sent to local homeowners had a bad phone number to call to get information on the Homeownership Forum. A woman in Las Vegas was getting the calls.”

ABC-6 video report on Hope Now Alliance event in University City on April Fool's Day.

Action News reporter Nydia Han covered the Foreclosure Crisis Committees informational picket. As she reports, no homeowners left the meeting with modified loans.

PUP Director John Dodds appears toward the end of the segment calling for an extended foreclosure moratorium so that homeowners can get deals worked out.

From Han's report:

The HopeNow Alliance has been trumpeted by the Bush administration as
an aggressive measure to alleviate the foreclosure crisis. But
protesters outside the HopeNow event said the program offers a lot of
false hope and indeed lenders that have agreed to help homeowners
through the program do so only on a voluntary basis. Action News, could
not find any consumers today who actually walked away with modified
loans or concrete answers.

You can see the video if you click the link at the top of this post.

Also, the issue received thorough coverage in the New York Times. Including photos of PUP's Foreclosure Crisis Committee demonstrating in our informational picket.