Wall Street Bailout Endangers Homeowner Help
Columbia, SC —
September 29, 2008
By: By Charles Branham, The State
Regulation, reforms, restructurings. Buyouts, bailouts,
bankruptcies. These words have become synonymous with the
current economic environment during a time when Americans are
looking to Washington to provide hope, opportunity and security.
Meanwhile, politicians are working around the clock to solve the
troubles facing Wall Street while turning their backs on Main
Street, by eliminating programs that would ensure continued
access to homeownership for working-class families.
The clock is rapidly ticking down to the Oct. 1 ban on an
important program that has provided downpayment assistance to
more than a million hard-working, deserving families over the
past decade without using one taxpayer dollar. Seller-funded
downpayment assistance was put on the chopping block when
President Bush signed the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of
2008 on July 30.
This was viewed by many as the worst possible time to institute
a ban, when housing is finally affordable again and
working-class Americans are best suited to successfully become
homeowners, and so a bipartisan group in the House drew up a
bill to reinstate these programs. It was approved by the House
Financial Services Committee last week, but attention turned to
bailing out the banking industry before it could move forward.
As a mortgage broker, I have witnessed the difference these
programs make in people’s lives. Downpayment assistance
restores hope and breathes life into communities, drives the
local economy and provides a tool for greater personal financial
security. With foreclosures through the roof, not only does the
program help deserving, qualified people become homeowners and
move into homes that will otherwise sit vacant, but according to
the General Accounting Office, 94 percent of the homeowners pay
their mortgages without delinquencies or foreclosures.
To watch Congress let this program slip away is discouraging.
What would it mean to South Carolina if this program had not
been in place? Roughly 21,000 homeowners would still be renters,
more than $258 million in state and local tax revenue would not
have been generated, and more than $2.3 billion in mortgages
would not have been produced. The elimination of downpayment
assistance will hurt not only South Carolinians who want to move
to homeownership but also the local housing industry. At my
company, Palmetto South Mortgage Corp., 85 percent to 90 percent
of our customers who use FHA loans also utilize downpayment
assistance. They are typically first-time homebuyers.
It is not too late for members of Congress to stand up for South
Carolina’s working-class families. Take the time to
understand these programs, and join in the fight to preserve
seller-funded downpayment assistance.
Congress claims it wants to help Main Street. Here’s a
start: Reinstate seller-funded downpayment assistance.
Mr. Branham is vice president of Palmetto South Mortgage Corp.
in Columbia.
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For additional information, please contact Shelley Mitchell, smitchell@nehemiahcorp.org, 916-231-1999.
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