Can POTUS' New Joint Committee Really Help Mary Ward?

It looks like , an 82-year-old Bed-Stuy resident who reportedly lost her home due to predatory lending, soon may be getting a big boost of help from POTUS himself.

Last night, during the State of the Union address, President Barack Obama announced he would convene a joint committee to investigate improprieties and irregularities behind the national mortgage fraud fiasco that has affected millions of homeowners – a large number of them being poor and elderly – and also spurred the banking crisis of 2006.

The President appointed New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman to the helm of the committee – another piece of potentially good news for Ms. Ward, as Schneiderman already promised back in August 2011 he would look into the irregularities of Ms. Ward’s foreclosure case. Now, he has even more arsenal to support his efforts, in the form of a national task force.

“The goal of this joint investigation will be threefold: to hold accountable any institutions that violated the law; to compensate victims and help provide relief for homeowners struggling from the collapse of the housing market, caused in part by this wrongdoing; and to help us finally turn the page on this destructive period in our nation’s history,” said a White House document obtained by Sam Stein of the Huffington Post.

Schneiderman applauded the President’s efforts: “I would like to thank President Obama for his leadership in the creation of a coordinated investigation that marshals state and federal resources to bring justice for the victims of the misconduct that caused the mortgage crisis,” he said.

“The American people deserve a robust and comprehensive investigation into the global financial meltdown to ensure nothing like it ever happens again, and today’s announcement is a major step in the right direction.”

Bed-Stuy Patch reached out to Common Law, the non-profit legal organization representing Ms. Ward, for an update on her case, and we did not get a response.