President Barack Obama speaking at Fort Hood, photo by the U.S. Army.
DeMarco confesses, Dems see red
The Hill says that the leaders expressed rage when Representative Anna Eshoo (D-CA) asked DeMarco if he’s ever met a homeowner who has suffered a foreclosure, to which he said he had not. “That shows to me the lack of understanding and the lack of urgency that is being brought to this problem,” Cardoza said. “The members of Congress are talking about 1 in 3 of their constituents who come to their office in tears telling us about their problems, and the person in charge of the program has never talked to a foreclosed individual. That’s unacceptable.”
“The American people don’t necessarily expect miracle workers, but they do expect people to feel their pain and give it everything they’ve got to do something about their pain,” Representative Elijah Cummings (D-MD) told reporters. “When he told us that he had never talked to somebody who had been foreclosed upon — or was in danger of [being foreclosed upon] — to be honest with you, that shocked me.”
President Obama under fire as well
“There has been a complete failure on the part of the Obama administration to address the catastrophic wave of home foreclosures across the country, leaving families in despair and wreaking havoc in countless communities,” Rep. Eshoo said in an email statement. “In order for our economy to expand, an effective policy must be put into place to turn this devastation of housing around.”
DeMarco’s response after the meeting was a press release that said the FHFA would be “working hard with other market participants to enhance” HARP, a (failed) government program aimed at preventing foreclosures. DeMarco himself is on record admitting HARP doesn’t work and now says the only way to fix housing is to fix HARP, an answer that neither side will find to be acceptable.
Key Democrats are criticizing the administration and calling for DeMarco’s resignation in light of FHFA’s failure to present any plan for repairing the housing market which they play a key role in.
The Loan Boss
October 9, 2011 at 8:54 pm
The FHFA's job is to keep Fannie and Freddie from bleeding money and prote t taxpayers. I think he has to concern himself with that first. The bonds that secure these loans are owned by many investors with diverse interest. He can not simply say, "Let's change all the rules" without permission from the people who actually own these loans. When will everyone get that?