NSP Termination Act: House of Representatives

Floor Speech

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Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Chair, today's legislation is the third in a series of four announced bills explicitly intended to dismantle our nation's foreclosure prevention efforts.

In this case, the initiative being terminated is the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, which has to date impacted over 100,000 properties in our nation's hardest hit areas while supporting an estimated 93,000 jobs. The program works by providing critical assistance to states, local governments and non-profit organizations to demolish or rehabilitate blighted properties, as well as establish financial assistance programs for low- and middle-income homebuyers. The resulting redevelopment of foreclosed and abandoned homes has helped stabilize communities, preserve the value of adjacent properties, and begun to restore municipalities' tax base.

Mr. Chair, with seven million people having lost their homes to this housing crisis so far, another three million foreclosures expected through 2012, and unemployment still hovering around 9 percent, now is not the time to pull the rug out from under distressed homeowners and communities struggling to get back on their feet

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