Feds to let elderly woman return home

AKRON, Ohio, Oct. 4 (UPI) -- U.S. housing officials say they are forgiving the mortgage of a 90-year-old Ohio woman who shot herself as she was about to be evicted.

Addie Polk of Akron remained hospitalized but was expected to recover from the chest wound she gave herself with a small-caliber gun Wednesday as Summit County sheriff's deputies arrived with eviction papers, The Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal reported Saturday.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Cleveland, Friday took to the House floor in Washington to talk about Polk's plight as Congress was preparing the Wall Street bailout package, the Beacon Journal reported.

The Federal National Mortgage Association, Fannie Mae, then said it would forgive Polk's $45,620 mortgage and let her return to the house she and her late husband Robert bought in 1970 for $10,000, the Beacon Journal reported.

The Polks paid off their mortgage in 1982, but Addie Polk was forced to refinance the home in 1995 two years after her husband died, the Beacon Journal reported, noting the home was refinanced through a Countrywide Homes Loan assumed by Fannie Mae.

"This is a human face for a great national tragedy," Kucinich said of Polk.