Foreclosure Experts Forecast Explosive Numbers in Homelessness

ANNAPOLIS, Md., March 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Foreclosure experts at USHUD.com and Heavy Hammer Inc. today warned of skyrocketing homelessness as high unemployment and foreclosure rates continue to impede economic recovery.

Citing a combination of record rental vacancies and residential foreclosure rates, Heavy Hammer Inc. CEO Michael Urbanski said true numbers of displaced Americans are masked by "assimilated homelessness," a term describing those who have lost homes or can no longer afford rent and have sought refuge with friends and family members.

"Record foreclosures, rental vacancies and home sales to multi-generational buyers, combined point to increased assimilated homelessness," said Urbanski. "With seven million jobs lost since the beginning of the recession, and unemployment hovering at record levels, households are collapsing at an alarming rate. Younger Americans are returning home and the recently unemployed are turning to friends and loved ones for help in order to keep their families off the streets."    

According to Urbanski, lawmakers' myopic focus on health care reform has contributed to the assimilated homelessness epidemic as unemployment has remained unchecked and nearly 15 million Americans were without jobs in January. Half of all real estate foreclosures are directly attributable to job loss, and 3.5 million people, 1.35 million of them children, are likely to experience homelessness this year.

Urbanski said employment is the cornerstone to financial recovery that legislators must address. Existing programs, including the administration's Housing Affordable Mortgage Program have also failed to serve targeted beneficiaries. To date, only about $22 billion of the $75 billion allotted to HAMP has been spent.

"The bottom line is we won't come close to reaching a recovery until the unemployment figures improve," said Urbanski. "Until Washington addresses unemployment and housing with the same seriousness as health care reform, we will see ever more severe suffering for the poor and middle class than anyone is willing to acknowledge."

Headquartered in Annapolis, Heavy Hammer Inc., is an online networking and consulting company advocating for American homebuyers, connecting them with trusted experts and valuable resources. Driving one of the most widely used suites of foreclosure Web sites, Heavy Hammer delivers free, all-inclusive lists of foreclosure properties to more than 500,000 homebuyers monthly. In business since 1998, Heavy Hammer has focused on geographically-based ad serving technology and processes allowing thousands of professionals to target specific locations, connecting directly with consumers in specific locations. Starting with USHUD.com, this group of sites now includes more than 30 state- and region-specific sites.

    
    
    Joe Chenelly 
    410-357-1123 
    [email protected]

SOURCE Heavy Hammer Inc.