President Barack Obama is arriving in Arizona and plans to get a firsthand look at Mesa’s real estate market before his speech on fixing the nation’s housing crisis Wednesday at Dobson High School.
According to Representative Harry Mitchell, the president is expected to visit a Mesa neighborhood before the speech at Dobson High. It is not know which neighborhood President Obama will visit but, according to the White House Staff, he has a desire to see a neighborhood hard hit by foreclosures.
The White House was looking for a school that was close to U.S. 60, so the president would have easy access as he returned from east Mesa on his way to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport for his departure from an overnight stopover in the Valley, said Mitchell, who represents the Dobson High area.
“They were going to be in Mesa to begin with because parts of Mesa are where they have a very high foreclosure rate,” Mitchell said, adding he has not been told what the president will propose to deal with the foreclosure crisis. “We’re all concerned about some way that we can keep people from losing their homes. Hopefully there are some solutions to help us keep people in their homes and keep foreclosures from continuing.”
Mitchell stated that there are about 10,000 Americans per day that have their homes put into foreclosure, and Arizona is among the states hardest hit by the collapse in the real estate market.
President Obama’s speech at Dobson High is planned to begin about 10:15 a.m. He is scheduled to leave the Valley shortly before 1 p.m.
Tribune writer Sonu Munshi contributed to this report.
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