Reacts To Report Showing State Has Surpassed Florida With Highest Mortgage Foreclosure Rate In The Country
TRENTON – Senator Raymond J. Lesniak, D-Union, issued the following statement on Thursday in response to the report by the Mortgage Bankers Association showing that New Jersey now has the highest mortgage foreclosure rate in the country:
“The foreclosure crisis that has plagued New Jersey isn’t getting better, it’s getting worse. We not only have the highest rate of mortgage foreclosures in the country, this is the only state that had the rate increase during the most recent three-month period.
“In addition to the tragic loss of homes, this ongoing crisis is both a symptom and a cause of a struggling state economy. This is both a housing failure and an economic failure under Governor Christie. His indifference to this crisis is dragging down our economic recovery, depressing home values and allowing vandalism and crime to spread in neighborhoods with empty homes.
“Three times we placed legislation on the governor’s desk to help solve this pressing issue and three times he turned his back on the problem by repeatedly vetoing the ‘Residential Foreclosure Transformation Act’. I expect to give him another opportunity to help turn this crisis around by sending him the bill again.
“It is tragically obvious that the mortgage crisis won’t correct itself and it is equally obvious that the state’s economy is chronically impaired.”