Desperation and fear can break down the strongest person. Living life feeling even a little desperate can weaken the bravest among us. Looking over your shoulder even occasionally is scary.
Jim called “Corbett” yesterday because he needed help.
The self-described 43-year-old “garbage man” from Nicholson said he’s worried about losing his home. He said he has six children and his fiancée living there. He said his job doesn’t provide the overtime he’s used to making and that he’s still working 55 hours a week.
Jim took a second job to try to make ends meet.
But he’s missed the mortgage payments a few times and now the mortgage company in New Jersey is on his case.
A letter from the lawyers recently arrived.
Jim bravely told his tale and threw himself on the mercy of the court of public opinion.
Nowadays that’s dangerous.
Although most people called and emailed yesterday with advice, some people offered cold criticism for Jim and his family.
One woman sneered at his use of the word “fiancée.” Others accused him of overextending himself. Others smugly guessed that some people in his home are on welfare.
Poor Jim called back to try and defend himself. He told my producer off-the-air that he hadn’t depended on overtime to make the mortgage payment and that he hadn’t overextended himself.
The propane gas bill for a winter’s worth of heat was high, he said, and he discovered a leak in the oven that had to be replaced. After all, he said, the kids needed to eat.
At the risk of sounding too understanding, I must point out that he and his fiancée also needed nourishment.
Now they need another kind of nourishment.
They need fuel for the spirit as well as a plan to help them hang on to the house he’s “owned” for five years.
Numerous callers spoke out with tips, websites and phone numbers I will pass on to Jim, who left his name and number with my producer.
I’m no expert on the economy but I read enough newspapers of record to know that our part of America is in as much trouble as the rest of the nation.
But at least help exists – to a certain degree.
Pennsylvania officials have tried to provide assistance for people facing emergencies that result in mortgage foreclosure.
But one credit counselor who called the show said 60 percent of applications for one housing assistance program are rejected for one reason or another. Another caller who said he’s worked in the housing finance field for years put the percentage of rejection ever higher.
At one point I started feeling even worse for Jim.
But I also felt heartened that people used the whole show to share their own personal experiences and pain as well as their desire to help each other not feel so alone.
Tony in Old Forge called to say that he’s feeling like he’s got a weight around his neck as he tries to work and make the mortgage. He worries that his family will lose the home where his grandmother lived, the home that now “belongs” to him.
Tony’s wife called later in the show to share the terrible irony that, as a real estate agent, she is currently selling foreclosed homes while worrying that one of her colleagues might one day soon be selling hers.
The couple’s been together for more than 30 years. They depend on each other. Now they need each other as much as ever.
America is better than this.
A six month federal moratorium on home foreclosures is the least the government can do.
America’s homeless population, including war veterans, is in enough trouble as it is.
The thought of mass evictions and homeless families wandering the land from sea to shining sea is almost too much to bear.
Sue Henry
