Raju Chebium | Gannett Washington Bureau |
“California’s hard-hit housing market has improved considerably since the crisis of 2008 but Congress should pass President Barack Obama’s latest proposals to keep that recovery on track, Housing Secretary Shaun Donovan said Monday.
The White House released a raft of evidence touting California’s housing recovery due to policies adopted since Obama took office in 2009, such as:
• As of May, 369,000 homeowners had refinanced their mortgages at lower rates through a program aimed at preventing foreclosures.
• As of June, 294,000 homeowners had modified or were modifying the terms of their home loans under a related program.
• The Department of Housing and Urban Development has given more than $1 billion to 98 state and local agencies to buy up foreclosed and abandoned properties and redevelop those areas. Donovan urged Congress to pass immigration-reform legislation, which is stuck in the House, and act on proposals Obama outlined in Phoenix earlier this month to simplify the refinancing process, make it easier for people to obtain mortgages and wind down taxpayer financing for quasi-public mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
“The housing market is bouncing back,” Donovan said. “More needs to be done to keep the momentum going.”
For instance, he said, Congress should approve legislation to streamline refinancing, waive closing costs and enable more strapped homeowners who’re current on their payments to become eligible for refinancing at a lower rate.
“With interest rates rising, the widow of opportunity is closing,” he told reporters in a conference call. “It is time to get this done.”
The Obama administration’s latest proposals would’ve had more impact if Congress had passed them during the height of the housing crisis, said Stuart Gabriel, director of UCLA’s Ziman Center for Real Estate.
“It’s too little too late. The train left the station years ago,” he said. “One should not expect a meaningful impact of the policy on the sector as a whole or on the economy. It would help a few individual households.””