A legislative proposal could prevent home foreclosures. Painting a picture of a foreclosure crisis in Wisconsin, state Senator Lena Taylor says the rate has tripled since 2005, with over 500 foreclosure filings in Milwaukee each month. So, the Democrat proposes mediation between banks and the homeowners whose mortgages they hold.
Taylor says the Mortgage Mediation Act would ensure a process to achieve a settlement that could keep people in their homes or, failing that, shorten the drawn out foreclosure process and save banks and taxpayers some money. "This idea represents a possibility that home ownership can continue in spite of the economy," the Milwaukee Democrat said during a Capitol press conference with the bill's Assembly sponsor, state Representative Leon Young of Milwaukee. "I think as a state, it was our responsibility to see what the feds passed" to address the foreclosure crisis, Young said. "And then it's our responsibility as a state to fill that gap."