Unemployment and mortgages

As of last Friday, unemployment has reached the highest level in 25 years. Some states have been hit harder than others, but they have all been hit.

In Ohio, as of January unemployment was at 8.8 percent. That’s the highest level in two decades. Ohio is also ranked 10th of all states in foreclosures.

In Massillon, Ohio, population 31,325 as of the 2000 census, Edison Junior High School advertised a job opening for a janitor…and received 700 applications.

Officials at Perry Local Schools near Canton in northeast Ohio say they’ve extended the deadline until Monday to accommodate the overwhelming response to the week-old posting.

The full-time position at Edison Junior High School pays $15 to $16 an hour plus benefits.

Superintendent John Richard says many applicants are laid-off workers with heart-wrenching stories about the tough economic times.

Forty-nine-year-old Donna Croston says she applied after losing jobs at two nearby factories that closed.

Nearby in Canton, there are more layoffs.

Canton, Ohio-based Timken Co., the supplier of bearings to the world’s top five carmakers, said March 2 it would eliminate as many as 400 salaried jobs this year.

Nationally, it is the same story.

Sears last week said it would shutter 24 stores, on top of eight closings announced earlier…

…Slumping sales have caused recent Chapter 11 filings by retailers such as Everything But Water LLC, the largest U.S. retailer of women’s swimwear, and Ritz Camera Centers Inc., the largest chain of camera stores.

With the passage of a recent bill, at least some of these people are now less at risk of losing their homes.

The U.S. House of Representatives voted 234-191 to pass H.R.1106, which allows bankruptcy judges to cram down mortgages for homeowners facing foreclosure…

…Lawmakers added provisions that seek to make filing for bankruptcy a last resort for struggling homeowners. In its current form, HR1106 calls on bankruptcy judges to decide whether all other foreclosure prevention options were exhausted and whether loan modifications offered by loan servicers adequately reduced mortgage payments. Borrowers must show they reached out to servicers for a modification prior to filing for bankruptcy.

The Congressional Budget Office in a February report said at least 1 million borrowers may benefit from the allowance of cramdowns.

Maintaining their say-no-to-everything strategy, only seven Republicans voted for the bill. One of those seven, however, was Ohio Congressman Mike Turner. Even before the vote, he had broken with the GOP on this bill.

Turner breaks from GOP to support mortgage bill. He’s the only Republican sponsor of the bill Boehner called ‘the worst idea in the world.’…

Turner, R-Centerville, has supported similar provisions in the past, and last year supported one along with U.S. Rep. Steve Chabot, R-Cincinnati, who lost his 2008 re-election bid. This year he’s the lone Republican cosponsor of the bill.

And how. This week, House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-West Chester, called the proposal “just the worst idea in the world.”

It is rare that I get to say something nice about a Republican here at TML…but I salute Turner for having the courage to break from the GOP and do what was best for his constituents.