Providing for Consideration of H.R. 839, HAMP Termination Act of 2011; Providing for Consideration of H.R. 861, NSP Termination Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. EDWARDS. I thank the gentleman from Colorado.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today really troubled because I am opposed to terminating the HAMP program and the Neighborhood Stabilization Program. But I am troubled because these programs have actually been very troubled. They are not perfect. They haven't helped every homeowner that we want, but we shouldn't be in a position of just destroying the programs.

The Neighborhood Stabilization Program in particular was established to help communities acquire, rehabilitate, and resell abandoned and foreclosed properties as a result of the growing foreclosure crisis. There are so many economists across this country who tell us every single day that until we get the housing market straight, we will not get this economy straight. So I believe in theory in these programs.

Declining home values in my community have led to lower tax revenues for our local jurisdictions that are already suffering from the impacts of the economic downturn. The statewide foreclosure crisis has hit particularly hard in my district and the counties that I represent, in Prince George's and Montgomery Counties, in Maryland. They have the first and third highest number of foreclosures in our State and account for 40 percent of the foreclosures statewide.

Through the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, Montgomery County received $2 million and Prince George's County nearly $12 million in funding. This has helped in these communities. I would urge the majority to look at the benefits, and let's try to fix the programs.

At the beginning of this crisis, sure, there were bad loans. There were bad actors all over the place. But we also know that people have lost their jobs and that has contributed to foreclosures, and these families should not be punished because we can't seem to get it straight. Neighborhood stabilization does stabilize communities. It doesn't do any good to have homes that are empty and in decline and neighborhoods that will never bring the market back.

So while I am concerned about some of the programs and would like to work to try to fix these, it is not right for us to simply throw them out and minimize the impact of helping 521,000 families to stay in their homes.

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