On Monday, December 19th, Ohio leaders in Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and the Mahoning Valley released the Ohio Underwater report in coordination with the New Bottom Line coalition. It shows the Obama Administration a win/win solution to fix the housing crisis and create jobs. If the President follows the recommendations in Ohio Underwater, over $36 million dollars would enter our local economy and an estimated 545 jobs would be created.

Most importantly, homeowners who are underwater in their mortgages - 22% in Ohio - would pay a fair market price for their loan, rather than the inflated one they currently pay as a result of the Wall Street financed, speculative bubble that crashed the economy.

Read the report here: "Ohio Underwater: How President Obama Can Fix the Housing Crisis and Create Jobs."

From the report:

In Ohio, the effects of the crisis have been severe. More than 315,000 Ohioans lost their jobs since the start of 2008, and 282,000 are expected to lose their homes by the end of 2012...

But the Obama Administration and the banks can do something right now to change all that. Requiring banks to write down all underwater mortgages to market value could:

• Pump $1.64 billion into Ohio’s economy every year;
• Create more than 24,000 jobs in Ohio;