Setting the stage much like a pep rally and chanting “Save our homes! Save our jobs! Keep hope alive,” Jackson’s campaign recently focused on Georgia, a state that ranks seventh in the nation for foreclosures. Two days before thousands of foreclosed properties were scheduled to go up for auction on the courthouse steps, Jackson appealed to the flocks of two mega churches in the metro Atlanta area to join the fight: Greater Travelers Rest Baptist Church in Decatur, where Pastor Dewey E. Smith, Jr. presides, and Voices of Faith Ministries in Stone Mountain, founded by Bishop Gary Hawkins, Sr.

Jackson said the foreclosures are the result of “corruption and wickedness in high places,” explaining that people are losing their homes because of greed and mortgage companies’ unwillingness to help people refinance or modify their home loans. He said the mortgage crisis is compounded by the loss of jobs and people having nowhere to turn for help.  

“The banks we (the American taxpayers) bailed out won’t bail out the people,” Jackson said.   

Jackson implored the congregations to show strength and fight back by attending rallies and supporting Rainbow PUSH. He said the coalition also is working to help save churches that are facing foreclosures.  

As Jackson held his “Save Our Home” rally Nov. 30 on the steps of the Federal Home Loan Bank in Atlanta’s Midtown, President Obama announced increased efforts to crack down on mortgage companies that have not been slow to help borrowers who are faced with losing their homes. Treasury Department officials, the President said, will put more pressure on the 71 companies participating in the government’s $75 billion effort to halt the foreclosure crisis. Three-member “SWAT teams” immediately will begin monitoring the eight largest companies’ work and requesting twice-daily reports on their progress.

Across the nation, nearly 60 percent of the 375,000 homeowners who qualify to have their loan modifications completed this year have either submitted incomplete paperwork or none at all. As of September, only about 1,700 homeowners had finished all the paperwork and received a new permanent loan. About a third of borrowers who have completed applications are still waiting a decision. At stake are mortgage interest rates that may be reduced to as low as 2 percent for five years.

Jackson said that the fight is one that all homeowners must take up.

“If there are foreclosures in your community, it impacts your home’s value. And your home has lost its value, you’re paying more than the house is worth,” Jackson.

Statewide, there were 12,468 new foreclosures in October alone, according to RealtyTrac. Fulton County had 1,713 new foreclosures posted in October; Gwinnett had 1,458 new listings for October; and DeKalb had 1, 245. Georgia has had a total of 120,051 foreclosures through October.