Preserving Equity, Homes and Histories
HouseStories is an organization dedicated to keeping homeowners in their homes during difficult economic times. We do not offer loans, but grants to homeowners; creating a market by breaking a cycle of profit which has been destructive to many. Our program also offers participants an opportunity to use a difficult time in their lives to contribute to our cultural legacy and to see their distress not as a loss, but as a history. The funds for the project come from documenting this unprecedented period of distressed home ownership as a global cultural event. Homes that are saved are preserved as architectural models, translated into books, and accompanied by the stories of the homeowner's plight.
Our organization is based on the premise that individuals often provide better solutions in times of crisis, than banks, or other large financial institutions.
This first campaign hopes to serve 100 homeowners by the end of 2008—a lofty goal for a new organization with a new idea that bucks conventional approaches. But this is only a beginning. According to statistics, there are nearly 4 million homeowners facing foreclosure in the United States alone. Grim statistics often make it into the media and overshadow what savvy investors and bankers already know: that the market is turning upwards.
HouseStories hopes to help homeowners keep their homes out of the hands of those who only wish to make a profit, and preserve home ownership by providing bridge funding. HouseStories projects that each participant could be funded for one year of mortgage payments if necessary. This will buy time, and help home owners to stay in their homes and preserve their equity until the market begins to recover.
Participation is not without it’s requirements. Homeowners must go through a process of review which makes sure they are committed to staying in their home. It is only a program for those whose homes have meaning and value for them. They are also expected to contribute to the cultural archive by providing information about the architecture of their home, so that a 3D model can be built. This model will form the basis of their book. In addition, they will need to tell us what brought them to this place of needing help. We will verify all stories we receive before approving a proposal.
Most casual news readers believe the reason homeowners are losing their homes, is because they didn't read their loan documents carefully, or took on more of a house than they should have, in an act of greed. Is this really the case for the nearly 4 million people facing foreclosure in the United States? Or is this a convenient story, with a small truth, which allows certain financial institutions to continue to profit from others loss, while remaining out of sight? We hope the owner's stories will provide some insight.
The initial campaign is open for proposals from homeowners who wish to be considered for participation
To learn more about the ideas behind HouseStories, go to the About page. To learn more about how it works, go to the How it Works page.
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