WASHINGTON STATE

Washington State House Democrats

HOUSE DEMOCRATS

“American Winter” screening tomorrow

The Attorney General’s Office and the Department of Financial Institutions are inviting the public to the screening of the award-winning foreclosure documentary “American Winter” on February 25 at 6 pm at the Capitol Theater in Olympia.

The film portrays the stories of eight families in Portland, Oregon, their struggles during the recession and the impact that budget cuts to human services and poverty have on them in the midst of winter in the northwest.

While the families in the film are unique, their experiences are not. Millions of people around the country, and certainly in our state, were hit hard by the recession and found themselves in the same circumstances. Between 2008 and 2010 more than 77,000 families lost their homes in Washington, which took our state from 25th in foreclosures to 10th in the nation.

Led by Rep. Tina Orwall, lawmakers passed the Foreclosure Fairness Act in 2011, which created the Foreclosure Mediation Program to bring homeowners and lenders to the table to talk and resolve their differences. A couple of weeks ago we posted this recap on the results of the program since its implementation.

When her bill was going through the legislative process, Orwall also worked on wiping out the foreclosure stigma by repeatedly pointing out that foreclosure is no longer something that happens to other people. “We’re looking at the new faces of foreclosure: our neighbors, co-workers, friends and family members. Not just people who took out subprime loans, but also those with prime, regular loans are losing their homes.”

That’s precisely what those who attend tomorrow’s screening of “American Winter” will see, just regular people whose lives get completely turned around due to the most devastating economic downturn since the Great Depression.

Watch the preview:

Rep. Orwall will welcome viewers at the beginning of the screening, which is a free event, but does require registration at: https://americanwinterolympia.eventbrite.com.

Albeit slowly, the country is recovering. One of the indicators that the economy is getting better in our state is that this past January the number of foreclosures was 30 percent lower than the same time last year.