April 10, 2008 (LPAC)--The East St. Louis, Illinois city council passed a resolution calling for Congress to enact the Homeowner and Bank Protection Act (HBPA) at their meeting April 10. This brings the number of cities who have passed similar resolutions to more than 85, nationwide. East St. Louis is a very poor community of 31,500 residents, down from a high of over 80,000 in the 1950s. It is a struggling suburb of St. Louis, Missouri, where jobs have shifted from industry to services. The resolution was introduced by Robert Eastern III, a councilman who is also a national representative of NBCLEO, the National Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials, who endorsed the HBPA at their annual meeting last month in Washington, D.C.