Titus Letter to Geithner Seeks Information on Effectiveness of Making Home Affordable Program

Washington, D.C. – July 10, 2009 – (RealEstateRama) – Congresswoman Dina Titus of Nevada’s Third District sent the following letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner today on the Making Home Affordable Program.  In the letter, Titus commends the Administration for raising the Loan to Value limit from 105 to 125 percent and discusses the need to accurately assess the program to determine if additional changes should be made to help homeowners in Nevada and across the country.Below is the text of the letter:

July 10, 2009

The Honorable Timothy Geithner
Secretary
Department of the Treasury
1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20220

Dear Secretary Geithner,

I want to thank you and your colleagues in the Obama Administration for raising the Loan to Value (LTV) limit for the Making Home Affordable (MHA) Refinance program.  As Secretary Donovan noted last week in my district, Las Vegas is ground zero of the foreclosure crisis and I am committed to seeing this crisis resolved as quickly as possible.   Increasing the LTV requirement to 125 percent will allow more homeowners in areas that have been hardest hit by this crisis to participate in the program and receive the assistance they need to stay in their homes.

I was pleased to meet with Secretary Donovan last week in Las Vegas.  He made a commitment on behalf of the Obama Administration to continue working to end this crisis.  I believe that we will not be able to recover from this recession without stability in the housing sector; every new foreclosure is a step back from recovery.  Four states, Nevada, California, Florida, and Arizona, have been facing the worst of this crisis, and the problems faced by these states will continue to hamper our national recovery.  I know that if we work together, however, we can overcome the challenges that face homeowners in Las Vegas in a timely and effective manner.

I am also writing to request information regarding the use of Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds for the Making Home Affordable program.  My constituents are in urgent need of assistance through this program, and I am concerned that it may be moving too slowly.  Accordingly, I respectfully request that you provide answers to the following questions.  I believe that we will not be able to correctly alter and improve these programs to quickly end the housing crisis without accurate data on their performance.

• How many homeowners’ mortgages nationwide have been refinanced or modified under the MHA program?  How many homeowners’ mortgages in the Metropolitan Las Vegas area have been refinanced or modified under the MHA program?

• What metrics are being used at the Treasury Department to assess the success and effectiveness of MHA?  How would you currently rate the success?

• Of the $75 billion of TARP funds that were allocated to this program, what percentage has been used for MHA?

• Do you estimate that $75 billion will be sufficient to bring a swift end to the crisis?  If not, are there plans to use additional TARP funds for these purposes?

• Do you believe that the current structure of MHA will be effective in areas that have been most affected by the crisis?  Will a new program be needed to bring relief to areas that have been disproportionally affected?  I understand that President Obama has asked that you conduct a comprehensive review of the Administration’s housing programs and that this review specifically account for the areas that have been hurt the most in this crisis, such as Las Vegas.

I thank you in advance for your attention and timely response to my inquiry. I look forward to continuing to work you in the future.

Sincerely,
Dina Titus
Member of Congress