Much has been said about the hundreds of thousands of homeowners impacted by today’s foreclosure crisis. Yet, there are thousands of tenants who are also affected by the record number of foreclosures sweeping America. Sadly, many of them are the last to know that the place they call home will soon be sold on the courthouse steps to a new owner.

Imagine the shock that comes with knowing that you will soon have to leave your rented home even if you’ve been a great tenant and have always paid your rent on time. What does it mean to have to uproot your family, search for a new place to live and find new schools for your school-aged children? Eloise Grant from Elk Grove California is one person who has had to find solutions to these hard problems--problems that she did not create. Watch Eloise as she talks about how she had to scramble after she learned that her landlord had failed to pay the mortgage on the house she was renting.

Thanks to an organization called Tenants Together, Californians like Eloise Grant now have a place to call when faced with the threat of having to leave their homes because the landlord is in foreclosure. Tenants Together launched a Foreclosure Hotline for Tenants providing free information and advice for those who find themselves in Eloise Grant’s situation. They say that approximately 25% of buildings in foreclosure were renter occupied, including over 9,000 multi-family buildings.

No doubt, there is a lot of work for an organization like Tenants Together in California.
Read a recent Bloomberg story on how tenants in California are faring.
Californian’s tenants are not alone in their misery. Read this story about tenants living in
Fayetteville, Arkansas who are having to flush their toilets with buckets of water because the landlord failed to pay the water bill.

The good news is there is growing recognition that helping tenants who are facing eviction is an important component of addressing the mortgage meltdown. Hats off to organizations like Tenants Together and others who are working hard to help tenants through this difficult time. Take a look at this recent award given in Cleveland, Ohio to the Cleveland Tenants Organization who has successfully taken on this critical task.