Maria Stephens and her three sons had to live in a shelter for seven months after her landlord went into foreclosure.
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More and more renters are being swept up in the credit crisis, at risk of sudden eviction because their landlords are facing foreclosure.
"I promised my son, I promised Efton that I would do everything I could to get out of the shelter," said Maria Stephens.
She is back in a home of her own after living in a shelter with her sons for seven months. When the economic crisis hit, Stephens lost her $80,000-a-year job. And then her world was really turned upside down when the landlord from whom she rented went into foreclosure.
"I was in a situation of no fault of my own," she said. "I am a single mom of three boys. I am just trying to raise my three kids."
When her landlord went into foreclosure, Stephens had little recourse and no time. She was on the streets with 3 kids, no job, and no roof over head. Turns out her story is quickly becoming a familiar one. The National Low Income Housing Coalition reports about 40 percent of people facing eviction because of foreclosure don't own the homes -- they're renters.
"People who had been paying their rent on time, had been keeping with their lease requirements -- all of a sudden are served with an eviction notice," said Linda Couch, deputy director of the NLIHC. "If banks and new owners tomorrow were required to allow people to stay in those homes for 90 days, through the term of their lease, we would see an immediate and dramatic impact on potentially millions of peoples' lives. "
President Obama's 2010 budget adds $6 billion of funding for the Department of Housing and Urban Development, puts $1 billion towards housing for the poorest families and provides more money for rental vouchers.
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