Somewhere in the stimulus bill (which I support) and the new bank bailout (which I also support) there is supposed to be some sort of relief for those near or in foreclosure. I remember hearing that somewhere before for a second then nothing came of it. I now see why.
Way back in October 2008, Congress passed the Help for Homeowners Act. Here is the gist:
Congress authorized the FHA to insure up to $300 billion in mortgages under this program. This was supposed to make a significant dent in the foreclosure crisis. The author of this measure, Chris Dodd (D-CT), said on the Senate floor on June 24th that this would "put a tourniquet on the hemorrhaging of foreclosures".
Yet...
Well, since the program started on October 1st, there's been a grand total of 79 loan applications under the Hope for Homeowners program
According to the linked article, it was because
The problem, for the most part, lies elsewhere. The New York Times has reported that some of the hedge funds that own mortgage-backed securities are threatening to sue mortgage companies if they agree to refinance loans under this program.
The real problem, however, is in the details. One requirement for qualification:
You must have taken out the mortgage on the home before Jan 1st 2008
Sounds reasonable, I suppose. After all the housing bubble did burst in 2007. But surely by October someone noticed this trend developing:
"U.S. foreclosure filings spiked by more than 81% in 2008, a record, according to a report released Thursday, and they're up 225% compared with 2006.
A total of 861,664 families lost their homes to foreclosure last year, according to RealtyTrac, which released its year-end report Thursday. There were more than 3.1 million foreclosure filings issued during 2008, which means that one of every 54 households received a notice last year.
So what is my point in all of this? While I am willing to give Obama, my fellow Democrats, Geithner, et al the benefit of the doubt and understand that time is of the essence, could we please make sure that in this sea of billions we can take care of the three million people on the verge of losing their homes?
Pretty please?