Congresswoman Barbara Lee Supports Legislation to Keep Families in Their Homes
For Immediate Release
March 5, 2009
Contact: Nicole Y. Williams
(202) 225-2661
Washington, DC – Today, Congresswoman Barbara voted in favor of the Help Families Save Their Homes Act, a bill that takes a key step in implementing President Obama’s comprehensive Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan.
This legislation seeks to help more families obtain affordable mortgages, protect lenders from lawsuits for reasonable loan modifications, and fixes the Federal Housing Administration’s Hope for Homeowners program. She released this statement:
“The roots of the current economic crisis are grounded in the housing market and the greedy lending practices of the banks. Many of us warned about this impending housing crisis years ago. As a member of the Financial Services committee for eight years, I remember expressing my concern about the housing bubble and the subprime loans that were fueling it and the consequences to our economy if the bubble popped.
“But our warnings fell on deaf ears. When we tried to encourage the banks to participate in voluntary foreclosure prevention programs to help families in distress, they balked and made every excuse to avoid participating.
“Then the economy tanked and they begged us for a bail out. Now millions more families are threatened with bankruptcy and foreclosure. That’s why we are taking this step today, to restore some equity to our bankruptcy laws to allow judicial modifications of mortgages on primary residences and to help keep families in their homes.
“I applaud the improvements to the Hope for Homeowners program that are also included in this legislation. We had to address the low rate of participation in this voluntary program and I know that the improvements included here will provide many more homeowners with a way to work out new, affordable mortgages and to continue making their mortgage payments.
“Passing this bill will be an important step in stabilizing the housing markets because not only will we help families protect their homes and their assets during this economic crisis, we will strengthen our entire banking system by making permanent the increase in the FDIC insurance limits to $250,000. This will protect the savings of every American and will increase confidence in the banking systems both here and abroad.”
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