Tackling the Housing Crisis

This week, members of the United States Senate reached an important agreement to begin debate on legislation to address the growing housing crisis. This bipartisan consensus is an important display of how we can come together, regardless of political affiliation, to take on America’s economic challenges.

Colorado’s Housing Crunch

All across our state and our nation, families are feeling the pain of the housing crunch. Just this week it was reported that that 1 in every 45 households in Colorado lost a home to foreclosure in 2007.

Click here to read the report on Denver foreclosures in USA Today

Resource for Homeowners: Visit the Colorado Foreclosure Hotline

But the pain caused by this crisis is not limited to the over 40,000 Colorado families and counting that have lost their homes. It will also be felt by the 750,000 homeowners in foreclosure-ridden neighborhoods whose home values, on average, are expected to plunge by over $4,000.

Considering the severity of our current housing crisis and the threat it poses to our broader economy, I have pushed hard for the U.S. Senate to pass legislation that will provide struggling homeowners, devastated communities and a slumping economy with the right pill to ease the pain.

This legislation is not about bailing out people who made bad decisions. It is about providing assistance to the families and communities caught up in the growing tide of foreclosures; and putting the brakes on the growing tide of home foreclosure which threatens to drag our whole economy into a recession.

Click here to read an op-ed I wrote in support of the housing bill

Click here to view my speech in support of the housing legislation

Click here to listen to my remarks in support of the housing bill

Helping Colorado’s Families & Communities

Specifically, the Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008 will take meaningful steps to:

• Keep families in their homes by increasing funding for credit counseling and expanding opportunities for low-interest refinancing
• Provide assistance to communities affected by foreclosures by providing increased Community Development Block Grant funding to states/localities with high foreclosure rates
• Prevent foreclosures from occurring in the future by requiring greater transparency and simplicity in mortgage documents and expanding access to safe, fixed-rate mortgages backed by the Federal Housing Administration

The legislation also provides targeted tax relief for homeowners, homebuyers, and home builders, including:

• A new standard deduction for property taxes of $500 per individual and $1000 per couple for non-itemizing taxpayers who pay property taxes
• A temporary $7,000 tax credit for homebuyers who purchase homes that have been foreclosed upon or that are in some stage of foreclosure
• A provision allowing businesses affected by the housing downturn to carry their 2008 and 2009 losses back an additional two years for tax purposes

Click here for an overview of the Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008

I look forward to a full and open debate on this legislation in the coming days, in the hopes that Congress will come together to pass a bill that restores the American dream of homeownership and gets our economy back on track.

Sincerely,

Ken Salazar
United States Senator

Please e-mail me with any questions or concerns you may have 

The Senator's DC office is located at 702 Hart Senate office building, Washington, DC 20510. He has Colorado regional offices in Denver, Colorado Springs, Fort Collins, Ft. Morgan, Pueblo, Durango, Grand Junction and Alamosa. For contact and mailing info, click here.