Casey: Expand mortgage assistance program to include Pennsylvania
Published: March 4, 2010
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Casey noted that from January of 2009 until January of 2010, the number of foreclosure filings nationwide increased by 15 percent. During that same time period, the number of filings in Pennsylvania increased by 38 percent.
U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-Pa.) on March 3 sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner and U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan calling on them to expand the recently announced foreclosure assistance program to include Pennsylvania and other states with effective, innovative programs in place to prevent foreclosures. The $1.5 billion for the program has been allocated from the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) to provide housing assistance for the unemployed in select states, excluding Pennsylvania.
“I was pleased to hear that the Obama Administration has decided to use its authority to direct $1.5 billion in funds from the Troubled Assets Relief Program to housing assistance for the unemployed,” wrote Sen. Casey. “I was extremely disappointed, however, to learn that funds will be targeted to housing finance agencies only in states where the average price for all homes in the state has fallen more than 20 percent from the peak.”
Under the Administration’s current guidelines for state housing finance agencies to receive TARP funding for housing assistance, agencies in just five states would be allotted funds.
In his letter, Casey urged Secretaries Geithner and Donovan to reconsider the criteria for state housing finance agencies to receive funds under this program. He also expressed concern that by limiting the recipients of aid to those who meet a single criterion, the Administration’s approach does not take into account the majority of states where families and communities have suffered from the effects of widespread foreclosures.
As an example of the foreclosure problems Pennsylvania has faced, Casey noted that from January of 2009 until January of 2010, the number of foreclosure filings nationwide increased by 15 percent. During that same time period, the number of filings in Pennsylvania increased by 38 percent.
