The White House has something good in store for us, hopefully by early this week.
After weeks of deliberation, both the Congress and Senate recently passed and approved a comprehensive housing bill that will provide much-needed solutions to the housing crisis plaguing the country and help us keep our homes.
After a 72-13 vote in a session on Saturday, July 26, the housing rescue bill is now headed to the White House to be signed by the president.
For months now, we have witnessed how mortgage defaults, depreciating home values, fixed-rates that suddenly went up, and high foreclosure rates caused a lot of people to become homeless. It didn’t help that there were concerns about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s shares in the stock market, which raised concerns regarding the companies’ solvency.
Primarily, housing bill H.R. 3221 will modernize the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and give it a $300 billion fund to help around 400,000 homeowners have access to more affordable, fixed-rate mortgage loans, provide housing reforms, and create a new, stand-alone regulator for mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to be appointed by the president and approved by Senate.
It will also allow the Treasury Department to help both government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) stay financially afloat by lending them money or direct stock purchase.
The housing bill will also:
• Create a new and affordable housing fund for homebuyers taken from profits of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
• Raise FHA loan limits to $625,000
• Help communities hit hard by foreclosures through a $3.9 billion grant to be used in purchasing and redeveloping foreclosed properties
• Allow the FHA to guarantee loans by riskier borrowers and increase the extent of loans it insures.
• Give an additional $15 billion in housing tax breaks and a $7,500 refundable tax credit to first-time homebuyers
• Provide additional state funds amounting to $11 billion for low-interest loans to first-time home buyers, construction of low-income rental housing, and refinancing of subprime mortgages
• Help troubled borrowers get legal services and pre-foreclosure counseling through a $180 million funding.
• Protection for borrowers about to or have already defaulted on their mortgages and mortgage holders against investor lawsuits
Now that the lawmakers are done with the bill, White House officials have said that the president will affix his signature on the bill as soon as possible.
See related articles:
Bill to Relieve Families of Foreclosure in the Works
Senate Clears Foreclosure Prevention Act to Solve Housing Crisis