Senate Passes Kerry Housing Legislation to Protect Veterans from Foreclosure

[babylonsister]

Senate Passes Kerry Housing Legislation to Protect Veterans from Foreclosure


By admin - Posted on April 11th, 2008

Victory on Kerry-Smith Mortgage Revenue Bonds Will Also Help 87,000 Families


04/10/2008 -- Washington, DC – The Senate today voted 84 to 12 to pass the Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008, which included Senator John Kerry’s provisions to protect active duty service members and their families from foreclosure, and Kerry’s Mortgage Revenue Bonds proposal to give localities new tools to help keep thousands more American families in their homes.

Kerry introduced The Military Family Homes Protection Act to expand the Service Member Civil Relief Act (SCRA) which provides returning soldiers with one year relief from increases in mortgage interest rates. It will also extend the existing protections from foreclosure from 90 days to nine months after active duty service members return home. The SCRA helps members of the military and their families deal with the special financial burdens associated with serving their country.

A Kerry provision that would expand the Mortgage Revenue Bond program was also included, which would provide an additional $10 billion of tax-exempt private activity bond authority to be used to provide for the refinancing of subprime loans, mortgages for first-time homebuyers, and multifamily rental housing.

“Today’s passage of these provisions will help ensure our military families won’t lose their home to foreclosure or face skyrocketing mortgage interest rates. Combine a housing crisis with an unemployment rate for young veterans that has been as high as triple the national average and it’s clear Congress needed to act,” said Senator Kerry. “I’m also glad we succeeded in expanding the mortgage revenue bond program which will help families facing foreclosure and first-time buyers looking for a safe, fair mortgage.”

Kerry’s military legislation was supported by The National Guard Association of the United States (NGAUS), Veterans of Foreign Wars, Reserve Officers Association and the National Military Families Association.

more...

http://www.allamericanpatriots.com/48745967_senate-passes-kerry-housing-legislation-protect-ve

[bushmeister0]

1. A far cry from "The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944" or the GI Bill

"The GI Bill of Rights, officially known as The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was signed into law on June 22, 1944, by President Frankin D. Roosevelt. At the same time, its passage through Congress was largely unheralded, in part because the Normandy Invasion was under way; but also because its fundamental significance and major consequences for American society could not have been foreseen. However, with the end of the war in both Europe and Asia just a year later, the GI Bill's provisions would soon be quickly and fully tested. Within a few years, the new law served to change the social and economic landscape of the United States.

Among its provisions, the law made available to World War II veterans immediate financial support in the form of unemployment insurance. Far more important, as it turned out, were generous educational opportunities ranging from vocational and on-the-job training to higher education, and liberal access to loans for a home or a business. . .

This was the second durable legacy of the GI Bill. It turned the American people as never before into stakeholders, self-reliant property owners, owners of homes and businesses prepared to take responsibility for their communities because they now owned a piece of it. The dramatic impact of the GI Bill on the physical, geographic, and economic landscape of the nation is as important a legacy as the educational benefits."

http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/historians/chapter07.htm

Now all we can do is try to keep our GIs from getting thrown out of their homes. Great, we've come a long way.

[babylonsister]

2. At least he's trying to get something accomplished. That's more than

I can say for senators who try to put up roadblocks in everyone's way.

[bushmeister0]

3. I agree and I applaud the effort., as you say no one else is doing much

but it's just a travesty the way this generation is being treated compared to their grandfathers, and even their fathers for that matter. They might as well be working for KBR.