The trickle of news and programs coming out of Washington D.C. continues as the Obama administration is spending 600 million more dollars of our tax money to help out residents in North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, and Rhode Island this week.
WOO-HOO!
How many families will really be helped with these programs compared to the amount of families that will be disappointed in the end is the real question.
Think about it. With all the foreclosures and pain in these 5 states the 600 million could be spent tomorrow. Then what? Another levy, another grant, another program?
And there will be thousands that will have this faint glimmer of hope snuffed out as they do not qualify for the new program, because we know there is not enough money out there to fix all the problems, and these same people will be further down the rabbit hole.
And the real fix will be further away from occurring for the majority of America. All of these short term programs raise false hope, lengthen the housing crisis, and postpone the recovery. Washington’s classic line “ We are from the government and here to help” is great for sound-bites but does very little in the real world.
Let the real estate market follow the AA creed. Let us hit bottom. Let us know the worst. That is the only way we can truly recover and get better.
PLEASE!
State housing finance agencies from North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, Oregon and Rhode Island will share $600 million to test new approaches to helping borrowers save their homes from foreclosure. That is in addition to $1.5 billion set aside for California, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan and Florida when the program was initially announced in February. Both initiatives will be financed through the government’s Troubled Assets Relief Program.
While the first round of funding targeted states that had seen home values decline more than 20 percent, the second round of states were picked because they had high concentrations of people living in economically distressed areas, including counties where the unemployment rate exceeded 12 percent in 2009. via the WaPo
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
It’s my feeling that this is
all just a band-aid. It’s just
a temporary fix.
Thanks for sharing!
I agree with Mark above. Like trying to hold sand in a sieve.
Might even make the situation WORSE.
Remember those $600 stimulus checks a few years ago? A waste.