Barbara Lee Statement on Housing Bill
Press Release
For Immediate Release: May 8, 2008
Contact: Cleve Mesidor, (202) 225-2661
Barbara Lee Statement on Housing Bill
(Washington, DC) – Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CA-9) delivered the following statement on the House floor in support of the three House Amendments to H.R. 3221, the American Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act.
“For millions of families in America, the dream of homeownership has turned into a nightmare.
“Foreclosure rates have reached crisis levels. In California and in many parts of my District too many families are facing devastation and entire neighborhoods are on the brink of collapse.
“It is absolutely vital that we take bold steps to stop this housing crisis in its tracks.
“The three amendments offered in the House today represent those bold steps.
“Amendment #1 will modernize the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and give families the tools they need to work with lenders and borrowers to fix broken home loans and save them from foreclosure and financial ruin.
“Amendment #2 will provide vital tax incentives to help homeowners stay in their homes, encourage first time home buyers to get back into the market and will help to maintain low income housing stocks during this Bush Administration Recession.
“Amendment #3 will protect the rights of States to shield homeowners from abusive foreclosure practices while preserving the ability of the federal government to regulate banks and mortgages.
“These are all critical steps to addressing the urgent needs in our communities and in the economy.
“I especially want to thank Chairman Frank for including language from legislation I introduced with Senator McCaskill, H.R. 5758, the Reverse Mortgage Proceeds Protection Act, to protect seniors from losing their homes.
“We are seeing some of the same abuses in the advertising and high pressure sales of Reverse Mortgages as we saw in the sub-prime mortgage crisis.
“These provisions will ensure that vulnerable seniors are fully informed of hidden costs and pitfalls of reverse mortgages before they sign. It will also safeguard them from being forced into annuity plans that simply drain the equity from their homes.
“Together we can keep the explosion in reverse mortgages from turning into the next financial crisis.”
Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CA-9) serves on the Appropriations Committee and is Co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.