Dodd Urges Bush Administration to Focus on Foreclosure Efforts
Last week, the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee Chris Dodd sent a letter to President Bush, urging him to concentrate on looking for solutions to the enduring foreclosure crisis. The letter also contained criticism about the way the Bush administration handled the problems in the housing industry.
Dodd’s letter comes after unconfirmed report regarding a program designed to reduce the number of homes entering some foreclosure stage. If the reports are indeed true, the committee chairman believes that the government, particularly the Treasury Department, should act swiftly and aggressively.
But some government officials do not consider the problems in the housing industry to be the reason why the country is having economic issues. Instead, they are looking at the mess in the credit and financial industries as the root cause.
In addition, the government has already started considering other solutions to the foreclosure crisis on top of all the efforts made to stop foreclosure — the latest of which is the $300 million Hope for Homeowners program implemented last October 1.
According to Time magazine, there are actually two plans that the government is looking into. The planning involves officials from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Treasury Department, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and other government agencies.
The first plan is said to be worth $50 billion and would be used to guarantee the mortgages of troubled Americans. The other plan would involve the expansion of existing housing rescue programs presently under the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Based on year-over-year data, national foreclosure rate has risen by 21 percent, with one filing for every 475 homes. If the government fails to realize the seriousness of the situation, there will be hundreds of thousands of Americans who will be left homeless because of foreclosure in the coming months.
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- Treasury Looks Into More Anti-Foreclosure Strategies
- Prioritize Homeowners to Stop Foreclosures
- Treasury Nominee Geithner to Oversee Bailout Program Including Foreclosure Prevention