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New Housing Bill Criticized As Scant Help for Distressed
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"It might help move lower-priced homes in less expensive areas," Whitehead said. "But in more expensive areas of Northern Virginia, it's going to have minimal impact."
Some states have struck out on their own. Maryland lawmakers this week passed ambitious measures that would make the most egregious mortgage schemes subject to criminal prosecution, extend the foreclosure timetable from 15 to 150 days and prohibit pre-payment penalties and transactions in which homeowners are tricked into signing over their houses to third parties.
To help localities cope, the U.S. Senate bill would make an additional $10 billion in tax-exempt revenue bonds available to state and local housing finance authorities. The proposal would also authorize the agencies to help troubled subprime borrowers.
Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and his co-sponsor, Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.), said the measure could make low-cost loans available to as many as 80,000 families who, on average, earn about $45,000 a year.
"It's not enough money" to solve the nation's housing troubles, Kerry said. "But it's the most we could get."
Washingtonpost.com staff writer Ben Pershing contributed to this report.
