Congress Passes Housing Bill with Boxer Measures to Protect Taxpayers, Homeowners
Bill Now Goes to President Obama for His Signature
Washington, DC – May 20, 2009 – (RealEstateRama) — Yesterday, the House and Senate gave final approval to a broad housing bill that would help homeowners refinance to stay in their homes, increase funding for foreclosure prevention efforts and establish new protections for renters who face eviction because they are living in foreclosed properties.
The House voted 367-54 for the bill, which included two key amendments sponsored by U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA). The first provision requires that homeowners be alerted within 30 days if their lender sells or transfers their home mortgage loan. The measure would help homeowners whose efforts to avoid foreclosure have been complicated because they can’t find out who owns their mortgage.
“Homeowners have the right to know who owns their mortgage,” Senator Boxer said. “This measure will give homeowners another tool to fight unlawful foreclosures and renegotiate their loans so they can stay in their homes.”
The House also included a bipartisan amendment sponsored by Senator Boxer along with Senators John Ensign (R-NV), Mark Pryor (D-AR) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) aimed at preventing fraud and collusion in the Public Private Investment Program, the nearly $1 trillion asset purchase program created by the Treasury Department to make financial institutions stronger by selling off their toxic assets.
The amendment requires that the Treasury Department write tough rules to guard against collusion and conflicts of interest in these new public-private partnerships. The measure also would give the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program $15 million in additional funding to conduct audits to enforce these rules.
“We are sending a clear signal that we will not accept fraud or misuse of taxpayer funds,” Boxer said. “These sensible rules and targeted audits will deter fraud and make sure that taxpayers are protected.”
The Senate approved the measure today by unanimous consent.
