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.

The Daily News today editorialized in favor of the demands PUP and the coalition of groups working here to prevent foreclosure made before City Council last week.The editorial board wrote:

Those people on the front lines of the issue - such as ACORN and Philadelphia Unemployment Project- seem to agree that pressure must be put on loan servicers to work more closely with local housing agencies to devise workout agreements with homeowners facing foreclosure.

Lenders and servicers can't work fast enough - or don't want to - to handle large numbers of mortgage workouts. But they need to be pressured to come to the table and work with those on the front lines to help homeowners.

Click read more for a breakdown of our demands!