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Fact Sheet: Helping Responsible Homeowners Across America
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For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary July 1, 2008

Fact Sheet: Helping Responsible Homeowners Across America Helping
Responsible Homeowners Across America Congress Must Pass Responsible
Legislation To Help American Families Stay In Their Homes

ÿÿWhite House News

ÿÿÿÿÿ President Bush Participates in Roundtable on Housing Counseling

Today, President Bush will visit North Little Rock, Arkansas, and
participate in a roundtable discussion with counselors and individuals who
have been helped by the Family Service Agency's Consumer Credit Counseling
Service (CCCS).ÿÿCCCS is a Department of Housing and Urban Development
(HUD)-approved not-for-profit counseling agency that provides both
pre-purchase and post-purchase home counseling to individuals and
families.ÿ The CCCS works to keep struggling families in their homes.

President Bush And His Administration Are Taking Aggressive Actions To Help
Families Stay In Their Homes

The President launched FHASecure, which has helped more than 250,000
families avoid foreclosure by refinancing into safe Federal Housing
Administration (FHA)-insured mortgages. ÿFHA also announced a plan that
goes into effect later this month to expand the program to help even more
families refinance their mortgages.ÿ In total, FHA expects to help about
half a million families refinance by the end of the year.

The President and his Administration also helped facilitate the formation
of the private-sector HOPE NOW Alliance, which has developed multiple
strategies to help distressed homeowners.ÿHOPE NOW is a cooperative effort
among mortgage counselors, servicers, investors, and lenders to maximize
outreach efforts and provide professional counseling to help homeowners
refinance into a new mortgage or receive a modification.ÿ HOPE NOW
membership now covers more than 90 percent of the subprime mortgage market.
ÿ
  þ By working together, since July 2007, participants in the mortgage
    industry have helped nearly 1.6 million families stay in their homes.ÿ

In January, the President created the Advisory Council on Financial
Literacy, which brought together business experts and faith-based and
non-profit organizations to develop recommendations to better educate
Americans about matters pertaining to their finances and their future.ÿHUD
developed and distributed four million copies of a bilingual "Home
Economics" brochure that details five steps Americans should take to become
financially literate and own a home they can afford.

The President Wants To Keep Otherwise Creditworthy Families In Their Homes
And Strongly Believes That Any Government Policies Must Achieve That Goal
In A Responsible Way

Congress should quickly pass responsible legislation modernizing the FHA.ÿA
modernized FHA that is granted appropriate pricing flexibility could help
thousands of additional homeowners by the end of this year at no net cost
to taxpayers.ÿ In April of 2006 President Bush first sent Congress an FHA
Modernization bill, and more than two years later Congress has still not
passed it.
  þ A good FHA Modernization bill must protect FHA's ability to price a
    product based upon the risk it presents to taxpayers, and include a
    permanent end to the seller-funded downpayment schemes that drive
    homeowners into foreclosure at two to three times the rate of other
    mortgages. ÿThe House bill fails this test.
  þ The Senate bill would irresponsibly expand the role of FHA without
    first giving the agency the tools it needs to manage additional risk.ÿ
    The FHA expansion provisions should be improved and must not be amended
    to increase risks to taxpayers. ÿThe Administration strongly opposes a
    provision in the Senate bill that would prevent FHA from implementing a
    risk-based premium pricing structure for riskier borrowers.ÿ
  þ The Administration strongly opposes the inclusion of a program to
    provide block grants that would allow States to purchase foreclosed
    properties. ÿThe principal beneficiaries of this type of plan would be
    private lenders _ who are now the owners of the vacant or foreclosed
    properties _ instead of struggling homeowners who are working hard to
    stay in their homes.ÿ

The Federal Government must not prolong necessary corrections in the
housing market, bail out lenders, or subsidize irresponsible borrowing and
lending, at the expense of hard-working people who have played by the
rules.ÿ GSE reform and FHA Modernization represent the appropriate next
steps to address the housing downturn by creating a stronger and more
effective regulatory regime for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal
Home Loan Banks. ÿÿMore effective regulations would help ensure that these
firms do not take actions that place taxpayers or the financial system at
increased risk.ÿ

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