-
Congress's Housing Bailout: Too Little Too Late?
For the purposes of this entry, I will try to park my cynicism. I'm referring of course to my reaction to H.R. 3221, the massive American Housing Rescue and Foreclosure and Prevention Act of 2008, which recently passed the House after lumbering around the halls of Congress for months. Now that President Bush has backed off his plans to veto it, American homeowners facing foreclosure may finally be getting some care from the federal government, although none of it is particularly tender loving. A full analysis is available at DMI's Middle Class.org website.
In truth, foreclosure prevention is just of one of many moving parts in this bill. It includes a program that allows the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) to guarantee refinanced mortgages in which the lender writes down the loan amount to 85% of the borrower's loan principle. An estimated 400,000 homeowners will be assisted by this program.
Stay up to date with the latest AlterNet headlines via email
