Issue Position: Housing

Issue Position

As a member of the House Financial Services Committee, Murphy has been a strong advocate for comprehensive solutions to addressing our nation's housing crisis. Congressman Murphy strongly supported the passage of H.R. 3221, the American Housing Rescue & Foreclosure Prevention Act. The legislation is the most comprehensive response to our nation's mortgage crisis. It creates a tough, independent regulator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, helps keep hundreds of thousands of homeowners from foreclosure by allowing them to refinance their mortgages,creates an Affordable Housing Trust Fund, and provides tax incentives for first time homebuyers and a new property tax deduction for taxpayers who take the standard deduction (H.R. 3221, Final Vote Roll Call 519).

* Murphy has worked to help Connecticut residents facing foreclosure. Murphy has held two housing and mortgage education seminars - one in Waterbury in March 2008, and one in Danbury in June 2008 - with housing experts and lenders so that people in need could have direct access to assistance. Murphy has also helped constituents in danger of foreclosure find the help they need to stay in their homes.

* Murphy introduced legislation to reform HUD's disabled housing program (Sec. 811) to ensure that affordable units are available for America's disabled citizens. HUD's Section 811 program is the only federal housing construction program that helps very low-income people with serious and long-term disabilities live independently in their communites. It does so by providing individuals with severe physical and mental disabilities with affordable rental housing which is linked to services that support independent living. The Murphy legislation removes existing barriers in the Section 811 program, allowing federal funding to be used to leverage additional state, local, or private financing to build even more units for the low-income, disabled individuals. It streamlines the Section 811 processing requirements and removes outdated regulatory barriers, making it easier for state, local, and private interests to partner with the federal government to provide housing. The legislation would create a new demonstration program that leverages existing financing through the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) and the HOME program to build nearly 3,000 new integrated Section 811 units. The legislation was passed by the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday, July 20, 2008 (H.R. 5772).

* Murphy pushed for greater consumer protections against predatory lending. Murphy was one of the leading voices for passage of legislation to address the predatory lending practices, which were a leading factor in the current mortgage crisis. The legislation which passed the House, H.R. 3915, the "The Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act of 2007", will create a licensing system for residential mortgage loan originators and establish a minimum standard requiring that borrowers have a reasonable ability to repay a loan. Importantly, Murphy pushed for a provision to protect consumers from being steered into higher cost loans than they qualify for. Murphy's provision will end payments to mortgage originators who steer consumers into higher cost subprime mortgages (H.R. 3915).

Source