Date: 2011-03-29
Speaker: LORETTA SANCHEZ (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Mr. Chairman. since my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are ending the Home Affordable Modification Program. my amendment simply states that the Congress should encourage the banks to provide our qualifying neighbors with loan modifications. It also encourages the banks to provide our friends and families with information on foreclosure prevention and loan modification. My Republican colleagues say that the Home Affordable Modification Program is not helping enough people. Well. it didnt help all the people. Thats true. I know people who went and tried to get their loans modified. and it didnt work for them. but there have been quite a few who have been helped. I want to give you some examples just in my own area. For example. there is this couple in Garden Grove. California. The husband became unemployed. He was a construction worker. and as we all know. construction was the first industry to fold. Well. the family fell behind on their mortgage payments despite the fact that they are extremely frugal and had been saving money for emergencies. After some time. the husband found a job. Of course it paid less. and they are still unable to pay their full mortgage. They owed $8.825 in missed payments with late fees. plus. they had a balance of $482.000 on their mortgage. Thanks to the modification program. the debts were forgiven. and the balance was dropped by $87.000 so that they have a new balance. Even with the loss of income. they are very thankful that they can keep their home and that they have a mortgage payment that they can make. The Home Affordable Modification Program allowed this family to keep their home. A family from Santa Ana was close to losing their home due to financial hardship as the husbands hours and income were reduced. So to make ends meet. he supplemented his primary job with a parttime job. These are not people who are asking for handouts. These are people who are trying to figure out a way to hold onto their homes and to keep stability with their children. The gentleman really wanted to keep his home. so he worked with a counseling agency to formulate a budget that was affordable to him. Thanks to the loan modification program. his payment was reduced. and the family can stay in their home. Thats one more family in Santa Ana that is in their home today. Then there was this couple who worked for a school district. The budget restraints in the State forced them to have furloughs. which took a significant toll on their income. There was a couple from Anaheim who was using their unused sick and vacation days just so they could get that check in order to make the mortgage. Thanks to the loan modification program. the couple was able to permanently modify their loan and keep their home. Their monthly mortgage payment was reduced. and it made it more affordable. Even with an income reduction. this is another couple. another family. who is still in their home. Those are only three of the success stories weve had. I know I have worked very hard with my housing agencies and with people in putting on forums and talking to people and giving information and calling them in and getting the banks to try to modify these loans. This is a 5year process at home that we have been working on. I dont know. maybe the rest of my colleagues didnt do this or didnt know how to do it or they werent as successful. but we have had success. So we have families who are in their homes. It is my hope that my Republican colleagues will reconsider this bill. Lets work together to find solutions for people because when you keep families in their homes. the stability of the family stays intact. and when you have that in particular. if you have children. they need that stability. I yield back the balance of my time.