Expanding American Homeownership Act of 2007

EXPANDING AMERICAN HOMEOWNERSHIP ACT OF 2007 -- (House of Representatives - September 18, 2007)

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Ms. CASTOR. Madam Chairman, I would like to express my support of H.R. 1852, the Expanding American Homeownership Act.

I would like to thank Chairwoman WATERS and Chairman FRANK for their hard work on behalf of American families. I am proud to support their effort to make the dream of homeownership reachable for hard-working families throughout our country.

H.R. 1852 accomplishes many goals. It will expand the capacity of the FHA to ultimately help more homebuyers receive better loans. Currently subprime borrowers are not eligible to receive FHA loans. Under H.R. 1852, FHA loans will become available to subprime borrowers and help to keep them from becoming victims of predatory lending practices when buying their first homes.

Families who are currently homeowners, but were placed into mortgages that they were unable to afford will be eligible under H.R. 1852 to refinance their mortgages with the FHA. This will help families to recover from the hardship that so many have experienced during this difficult period in the mortgage market.

One of the great provisions of the Expanding American Homeownership Act is that it will authorize up to $300 million per year to be put into the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, to assist in building more affordable housing for working families. This fund will work alongside of an effort in my home state of Florida by Governor Charlie Crist to increase funding for initiatives to build affordable housing and to provide added assistance to first-time home buyers.

In my district in the Tampa Bay area, 10,173 of my neighbors found that their homes fell into foreclosure within the first six months of this year. The Tampa Bay area is ranked 24th in home foreclosures among the largest 100 metropolitan areas in the country.

On Monday, members of my community gathered to hear the story of Isaline Wyatte. Isaline's lender told her last month that her house was going to be auctioned off. Isaline was facing foreclosure. Fortunately, Isaline was proactive and was able to take the needed steps to finding assistance to restructure her loan and keep her home. Isaline's journey was a struggle, but with the passage of H.R. 1852, homeowners like Isaline will have an added place to turn before foreclosure threatens to leave their families without a home.

Madam Chairman, there are thousands of children, seniors and veterans that are living in fear that soon they will lose their homes. This is a crisis and H.R. 1852 is an excellent step toward helping not only first-time homebuyers, but also to help homeowners in trouble to get back onto their feet. Families will have a greater opportunity to find a home and stay in that home.

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