Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Dina Titus of Nevada’s Third District sent the following letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner today urging the Administration to raise the loan to value requirement in the Making Home Affordable Program.  Titus also highlighted the depth of the foreclosure crisis in Southern Nevada and encouraged the Secretary to take this into account as he reviews the Administration’s housing programs.

Below is the text of the letter.

June 30, 2009

The Honorable Timothy Geithner
Secretary
Department of the Treasury
1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20220

Dear Secretary Geithner,

I have enclosed a letter that I recently wrote to James Lockhart, Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, as well as the response that I received from Peter Brerenton, Associated Director for External Relations of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, regarding raising the Loan to Value (LTV) in the “Making Home Affordable” Program.

As was noted in the response to my letter, the FHFA is working with the Treasury Department as well as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mack on this issue.  I am writing to urge you to raise the limit for inclusion in the Making Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP).   As you know, in order to qualify for this program, one’s LTV must not be more than 105%.  However, it is estimated that almost 70% of homeowners in Las Vegas are underwater, and because home prices have fallen almost 50% in the last three years, many homeowners have LTV’s greater than 105%.

As I noted in my letter to Mr. Lockhart, many people who purchased a home in the last few years have found that, due to no fault of their own, they are in negative equity.  They do not want to walk away from their mortgages but have serious concerns about the actual value of their homes.  By enabling more families to refinance their current mortgage, we will not only allow them to stay in their homes, we will take an important step toward ending the current housing crisis.  I respectfully request that you work to raise this threshold as quickly as possible.

I was pleased to learn that President Obama has asked you to undertake a top to bottom review of the housing crisis and the programs that have be instituted.  I urge you to consider the situation in Las Vegas, as well as other communities that have been similarly affected by the housing crisis, in your review.  While I am hopeful that the “Making Home Affordable” program will help many Americans, I do not believe that it will be as effective in areas that have been hardest hit by the crisis.  Therefore, I respectfully request that you consider expanding the Administration’s housing programs or create a new program to help those homeowners in areas that have been affected most dramatically by this crisis.

I believe that this is an important change that will help many of my constituents remain in their homes, prevent foreclosures, and move our country through this housing crisis.  I look forward to hearing your response.

Sincerely,

Dina Titus
Member of Congress

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Tags: housing