On the evening of Thursday, November 19 2009, Common Ground conducted a hearing to learn about the foreclosure crisis and the impact of bank-owned foreclosed homes. Over 240 Common Ground members listened to testimony from a broad variety of sources. These included:

Alderman Michael Murphy, District 10, City of Milwaukee, Chair of the Council Finance Committee

Mr. Lew Ameel, Housing Counselor, HBC Services

Ms. Suzanne Dennik, Project Manager, Milwaukee Foreclosure Project Inititive

Ms. Catherine M. Doyle, Attorney, Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee

Ms. Margaret Henningsen, Founder and Vice President, Legacy Bank

In addition, a number of community members shared their experiences living near and trying to purchase these bank owned foreclosed homes.

Our Next Steps:

Common Ground will issue a ‘white paper’ with our research findings and recommendations on what we will do to address this problem by January.

on January 21, 2010 Common Ground will begin a campaign focused on outlining what we want the large national banks that own most of these properties to do.

If you would like more information or have questions please contact us here. Email