Ellen Beth Gill explains:

That's the number of foreclosures in Illinois since January 1, 2009 according to the Center for Responsible Lending. The same organization is projecting 103,000 foreclosures in 2009 and 342,800 in the next 4 years. Then, there are the folks not yet in foreclosure, but who have missed a payment or two. There are over 120,000 of them compared to just over 40,000 in 2004 -2005 and that number is really only good through Q3 2008.

Meanwhile, Tom Geoghegan pointed out last week that foreclosures in the 5th Congressional District -- which he's vying to represent -- jumped by 200 percent between 2006 and 2008, according to data compiled by the Woodstock Institute (PDF).  Citywide, Chicago saw about a 100 percent increase during the same period.  Geoghegan cited the statistics as part of his call for a foreclosure moratorium:

“We’ve given the banks $700 billion in bailout money and all they do is keep kicking people out of their houses. We need a moratorium today on all home foreclosures. This is the essential first step in getting our economy moving,” said Geoghegan. [...]

Geoghegan called for the following actions:

- An immediate moratorium on all foreclosures
- Banks receiving public funds must modify current loans to make them more affordable
- All mortgage originators need to be regulated to ensure equal and fair lending standards

Too bad Sen. Durbin's foreclosure mitigation proposal didn't make it's way into the stimulus bill.  But hey, look at all the GOP support the bill received as a result.  Oh wait ...