Rep. Howard Berman Votes No on GOP Plan that Would Worsen California’s Foreclosure Crisis

Washington, D.C. – March 17, 2011 – (RealEstateRama) — Over the past two weeks Congressman Howard Berman (CA-28) has voted against three separate Republican proposals that would hurt struggling homeowners and further exacerbate the foreclosure crisis facing California.  Congressman Berman has been working to help homeowners struggling to avoid foreclosure and recently hosted a Homeowners Assistance and Retention Workshop in Van Nuys where over 100 Valley residents received free counseling.

“Foreclosures hit all of us – they hurt families, drive down home values, and weaken communities,” said Congressman Howard Berman.  “This is why I strongly opposed legislative proposals offered by the Majority that would further weaken California’s housing market and drive up the foreclosure rate.  Instead, I support efforts to help homeowners and strengthen the housing market, which are crucial to our economic recovery.”

Seven million families have lost their homes to foreclosure since the housing bubble burst – often times through no fault of their own as a result of a job loss.  To further compound the problem, in Los Angeles more than 378,000 homeowners are “underwater” meaning they owe substantially more on their mortgages than their houses are worth because of the drop in housing values.  Ending efforts to strengthen the housing market will weaken the middle class, worsen the foreclosure crisis, and jeopardize our already too fragile economic recovery.

The following are summaries of the three bills Congressman Berman opposed because they worsen the impact of the foreclosure crisis:

•    H.R. 830, FHA Refinance Program Termination Act, abolishes help for families who are underwater to refinance into lower-cost mortgages they can afford to repay.

•    H.R. 836, Emergency Mortgage Relief Program Termination Act, eliminates short-term loans for up to 33,000 homeowners who lost their jobs through no fault of their own and are at risk of losing their homes.

•    H.R. 861, Neighborhood Stabilization Program Termination Act, eliminates efforts to strengthen neighborhoods hardest hit by the foreclosure crisis by providing resources to allow cities and states to buy up and rehabilitate foreclosed and abandoned homes that are driving down home prices, and destabilizing neighborhoods.