Dodd Attends Signing Ceremony Joined by Two Connecticut Residents
Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd, the Chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, today attended President Obama’s signing ceremony for the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act, legislation that Dodd sponsored to help prevent foreclosures and increase the availability of credit for consumers and businesses. Dodd was joined at the ceremony by two supporters of the bill from Connecticut: Tony Emerson, the Executive Director of the Credit Union League of Connecticut, and Carol Walter, the Executive Director of the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness.
“The bill President Obama signed today is a critical component of our efforts to protect American homeownership and improve the health of our banking system,” said Dodd. “By providing homeowners and lenders with new and improved tools to combat foreclosures, we can help lessen the impact this plague is having on communities in Connecticut and across the nation. This bill also includes protections for often-overlooked victims of the foreclosure crisis, such as renters who face eviction because their landlord is in foreclosure, and homeless Americans, many of whom are families with children.
Additionally, it will loosen the credit crunch by helping banks and credit unions increase their lending to small business and American consumers.”
Among other provisions, the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act would:
· Expand Access To The HOPE For Homeowners (H4H) Program. Dodd’s legislation updates the H4H program to make it more user-friendly and effective, including: lowering fees; streamlining borrower certification requirements; banning millionaires from the program; and allowing for incentive payments to servicers and originators to participate in the program.
· Increase Funding For Foreclosure Prevention Efforts By $130 Million. Dodd’s bill includes an additional $130 million for foreclosure prevention efforts including counseling, additional fair housing field employees, and educating the public about foreclosure scams.
· Establish Protections for Renters Living in Foreclosed Homes. One of the overlooked problems in the foreclosure crisis has been the eviction of renters in good standing from homes that go through foreclosure because the owners of those homes, unbeknownst to the renters, have not been paying their mortgages. The bill will require the bank that forecloses on a home to honor the existing leases or, for renters on month-to-month leases, provide a minimum of 90 days notice. If the bank sells the property to an owner-occupant, 90-days notice would be required. The bill provides parallel protections to section 8 tenants.
· Provide Comprehensive New Resources for Homeless Americans. The bill consolidates homeless programs to improve effectiveness and streamline administration. It focuses resources on the fastest growing segment of the homeless population – families with children – as well as the chronically homeless. It also authorizes $2.2 billion for homeless programs.
· Increase borrowing authority both for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the National Credit Union Association (NCUA). Dodd’s bill increases permanent borrowing authority for the FDIC and NCUA ($100 billion and $6 billion respectively), and establishes temporary additional borrowing authority ($500 billion and $30 billion respectively), to which the regulators may gain access only with a two-thirds vote of the FDIC or NCUA, a two-thirds vote of the Federal Reserve Board, and the agreement of the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the President. FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair has said that the temporary authority will allow the FDIC to reduce the special assessments on banks by as much as 50% resulting in $75 billion in additional lending in our communities.
