Colorado gets $250 million housing boost
By John Rebchook, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Published July 30, 2008 at 9:05 p.m.
Do you think the new housing bill will help the foreclosure crisis in the Denver area?
Chris Schneider / Rocky Mountain
Justin Kaiser turns the water on at a foreclosed home that he is preparing for rental or sale in the Montbello neighborhood. Residents worry about vacant homes and falling values in the area.
Colorado stands to receive more than $250 million in funding under the massive housing bill signed by President Bush on Wednesday.
Top housing officials estimate that state agencies are poised to receive $159 million for private, tax-exempt equity bonds for low- and moderate-income housing and $88 million to buy and improve foreclosed homes.
In addition, Colorado will receive millions of dollars to fund additional housing counselors.
Nationally, the law is expected to help 400,000 people facing foreclosures.
One rule of thumb: Colorado represents about 1.6 percent of the U.S. population, so that would equate to 6,400 people receiving help. However, because Colorado has a disproportionately high number of foreclosures, potentially even more people could be helped.
"This is the first major housing legislation passed since 1990," said Sister Lillian Murphy, CEO of Denver-based Mercy Housing, one of the largest owners and developers of affordable housing in the country.
The law is so detailed that a printed version weighs about 2.5 pounds.
Roy Alexander, CEO and president of the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority, said Wednesday it appears that the state will get an additional one-time boost of $159 million in private equity bonds for affordable housing. The state typically has about $400 million available each year for these bonds, he said.
"We are in the process of really studying details of the bill to get a sense of our implementation strategies, how our programs will be affected, what is the timing, and things like that," Alexander said.
Kathi Williams, director of the Colorado Division of Housing, estimated that the state will receive $88 million to buy and renovate foreclosed homes. The state currently has no budget for this, so it would be a new program, she said.
But Williams warned that the funds could cause unintended consequences. If too many foreclosed homes are bought and renovated and used for rentals, that could give those properties an unfair advantage over privately owned rentals.
"We don't want to help one part of the market to the detriment of another part of the market," Williams said.
Also, she said, if Uncle Sam, through this program, buys homes from lenders at 90 percent of the loan amount - instead of the 30 percent to 40 percent they might receive if foreclosed homes ended up on the private market - lenders will have little incentive to try to work with struggling homeowners to keep their houses.
Others have argued that the legislation is unfair to the tens of millions of people who make their mortgage payments on a regular basis without help from the government.
The single biggest part of the legislation is $300 billion in authorization for the U.S. Department of Housing to insure more Federal Housing Administration loans, a subsidiary of HUD.
"The level of authorization is not broken down by state or geography, but will be considered on a case-by-case basis," said John Carson, director of HUD's Region VIII, which includes Colorado.
It's also unclear how much Colorado will receive of the $150 million earmarked for foreclosure counseling, he and others said.
Carson said people in danger of losing their homes shouldn't wait for the new legislation to kick in on Oct. 1.
"Get in touch with a qualified housing counseling agent immediately," Carson said. "And the regular FHA programs are fully operational right now. So it's full-speed ahead with these programs, which can help a lot of people."
rebchookj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5207
More information
* Housing and Urban Development: 800-CALL-FHA (or 303-672-5244) or www.hud.gov
* Colorado Foreclosure Hotline: 877-601-HOPE
* Colorado Housing and Finance Authority: 303-297-2432
* NeighborhoodWorks America: www.nw.org/network/ home.asp
Post your comment
Registration is required. Click here to create your free user account, or login below.
Comments are the sole responsibility of the person posting them. You agree not to post comments that are off topic, defamatory, obscene, abusive, threatening or an invasion of privacy. Violators may be banned. Click here for our full user agreement.
Featured
-
Denver turns 150
Read about the city's history, look at old photos and see a list of influential Denverites.
-
Mount Crushmore
Which four Broncos greats should be immortalized on Mount Crushmore? Vote here.
-
Winter Escapes
Your insider’s guide to the copious joys of the coolest season.
-
Rocky Multimedia
The news comes alive in our videos and slide shows. Catch up on what's happening today.
-
Weekend plans?
Figure out things to do this weekend with the help of our entertainment calendar.
-
Bronco Dean's rant
Listen to Bronco Dean's pregame rant on the Raiders.
-
Season To Share
The Post-News Season To Share campaign provides grants to area nonprofits.
-
The Rocky @ 150 Years
The Rocky was there when Colorado became a state in 1876. Read our coverage.
-
A Dozen on Denver
And the winner is... Robert Ziegler! See the whole fiction series by clicking here.
July 30, 2008
11:44 p.m.
Suggest removal
SL10 writes:
I guess it is time to buy a house.
July 31, 2008
3:34 a.m.
Suggest removal
LOUIE writes:
Going to be a lot of people at the trough; time to get those soup kitchens going. Had this old girl ask me if I needed my collar turned, I thought the 80 year old girl was making a play, so I moved on and politely ignored the comment. Then she asked again, I thought the girl was getting a little randy, so I told her I was married, figured that'd shut that down. Come to find out, she was talking about my shirt collar. I guess in the depression, people poor and all, this old girl turned a few collars for her old man when they became worn, he was long deceased. Stuff you learn listening to the old folks. "Flatleaver", another phrase an old man threw on me with a long ago meaning. Everyday, all these years, I'm still a spellbound fool for the stories they tell of hard times in thier lives. Last one was a friend I still see today, who told me about the sand on his dad's farm drifting as high as the fence posts.
July 31, 2008
6:28 a.m.
Suggest removal
Superstar writes:
Hopefully, none of the money will go to help people who just made poor decisions about homebuying. Many people got in over the heads and bought homes they had no business buying in the first place. Unfortunate, but we shouldn't be paying to bail out poor decision making.
July 31, 2008
6:47 a.m.
Suggest removal
VVVV writes:
So our government is going to become a slum lord. Imagine trying to get your AC fixed without an appropriations committee. Wouldn't want any unfair advantage for the disadvantaged, would we? So the banks get more than they could expect (90% of value?!?!? nobody gets that in this market), the government gets tenants (wards of the state?), and the people who signed insane loans get better loans than the market would allow.
Sounds like there's a party going on in your own house, but since you were a good kid and went to school, you weren't invited. Don't worry, I'm sure they'll let you go buy them some more beer sooner or later.
July 31, 2008
7:05 a.m.
Suggest removal
LOUIE writes:
In a way you're right Artstarzz, Mr. Lyndon Johnson, kicked off welfare as we know it today, replete with a photo op in the poorest area he could possibly find in the United States, the Appalachian Mountains, I believe. Sat on some old man's porch, at a ramshackled, run down, wooden house like mine. Took a film clip, saying he was launching a new program, to assist the most stricken by poverty amongst us, in our nation. The old man sat on his haunches grining away; he was cool, somebody put a name on him? Someone correct me if I am wrong here. Food stamps started and whole new era in America came into being, spawning massive government involvement with the social fabic of America. He was tough Texan, led America through some dark days; I guess welfare is his legacy of compassion, for his fellow countryman to use when needed. I don't know if we can turn back his impact socially on our society today, generations later. This government kicks out a lot of dough, to a lot of people, for a lot of years now. Somewhere the ideals of a great capitalist nation are slowly being converted to socialism, creating a dependant class of underpriveledged people.
July 31, 2008
7:07 a.m.
Suggest removal
dilligaf writes:
I guess this bill was needed not just for people that got themselves in trouble. It was needed to help our economy. And it was a bill that was sent to the White House by a Democratic Congress with the approval of many Republicans. But my question to all of you hard line conservatives out there. Didn't Bush just sign a socialism bill that many of you blame the Democrats for?
July 31, 2008
7:15 a.m.
Suggest removal
dilligaf writes:
LOUIE
Yes sir you are right. The problem that these programs was that little thought was given to control them and many people took advantage of them and they got out of control. Now a lot of you hate Bill Clinton but with a non-partisan congress did approve a welfare reform bill that helped. Was it good enough? No. But it was a good start.
July 31, 2008
7:31 a.m.
Suggest removal
LOUIE writes:
Problem with government bailouts is it relies on the federal reserve to up the printed dollars, further erroding the dollar China and other nations are now holding. Best hope the Chinese don't dump those dollars before they decline in value , and realizing this recession" has the capability to be a "D" word we heard in the 30's. Wachovia, WaMu, is nothing if the nations holding our currency and debt start selling off the dollars they hold. The paperworld is inflated on speculation and a panic run could cause even greater damage. Thank God China needs us to recover our feet, those dollars are very important to her sucess. It's getting to look like an unholy marraige between our nations, much like Japan and the U.S. when Reagan was at the helm. America really doesn't stand all by herself anymore. The advantage to being in debt to these nations holding our dollars, is they are stuck in someways dancing to your tune in the shuffle. They don't want to sell off pennies on the dollars they hold either. In the end of all things wars have to be waged, bills paid, markets stabilized, banks propped up, it doesn't look real good right now folks.
July 31, 2008
7:40 a.m.
Suggest removal
dilligaf writes:
LOUIE
Although you and I have disagreed on many issues I do respect your knowledge. So maybe you can give your opinion on what was the affect that took our dollar off the gold & silver standards. This I feel is what allowed our dollar to be at the mercy of countries like China, Japan, and the Oil producing countries.
July 31, 2008
7:41 a.m.
Suggest removal
Alive writes:
So people who made poor choices get help. Big companies that made poor choices get help. But people who work hard every day and play by the rules get to pay for the help the other two groups are going to get.
And on top of it, those who are doing the paying are ridiculed and ignored by both above groups.
When is this bullsh!t going to stop?
July 31, 2008
7:58 a.m.
Suggest removal
Alive writes:
Hey folks, seriously, let up on artstarzz. We should care for our mentally ill, not punish them. He needs help and I hope he is getting it. With treatment his life could improve.
July 31, 2008
8:03 a.m.
Suggest removal
mtnboy75 writes:
Forward69. If there was sarcasm in your post, I couldn't recognize it. This is the will of the corporations and not the will of the people. You have a majority that now has to pay for the irresponsible decisions of a few homeowners. The primary purpose of this action is to preserve value of asset backed securities for companies like Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and any other wall street investment bank that is heavily invested in these instruments and leveraged at obscene ratios like 30:1 plus (which is pretty much every wall street investment bank). The people got the shaft. This does not bode well for the long term fundamentals of the dollar. For people like me, that work a full time job and have a family to support, things just got a whole lot worse becuase this will only help increase the prices of food and energy even further - either that or it will require the government to take a bigger chunk out of our paychecks.
Keep in mind that right now the government has about $55 trillion in unfunded commitments when social security and medicare are included. This equates to $190,000 for every man, woman and child in this country. In Colorado, per capita income is at about $40,000 - so I hope everyone enjoys their 5 net years of indentured servitude to the government. This act just made that number a little bigger.
July 31, 2008
8:27 a.m.
Suggest removal
ghoax writes:
the government shall soon be the note holders and control all private property if we don't band together and stop the nonsense...this isn't about helping the poor, its taking the hard earned money from those who work and giving it to those who don't. The bailout helps governments more than the people. The term "pursuit of happiness" is about the ability to own property not leased from the government or monarch. The slow encroachment by governments has gone un-noticed, but its time to pay attention. Seizing control of private property is one of the tenets of Marxism necessary achieve their utopia, this bailout is yet one more step towards government becoming the noteholder. I don't see anywhere in the Constitution where it says provide the general welfare...I see "promote the general welfare." And just imagine how it will be managed, by the same group that brought you the IRS. You want a housing bailout congress, start doing your job and get our dollar back in shape...everything from energy to housing will settle when the 100 bucks we earn this week is worth 100 bucks next week.
July 31, 2008
9:54 a.m.
Suggest removal
swimoutpassthebreakers writes:
Keep the printing presses going 24/7, it's only money. Can anyone say INFLATION! This is just another temporary feel good pill for the guilty affluent stuff white people like Obama supporters. However the last laugh will be on them when they want to do there Paris trip and it takes $3 of crappy greenbacks to buy a Euro. Might have enjoy that croissant and shot of espresso in the fake Paris of Las Vegas.
“Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them”
Ronald Reagan
July 31, 2008
10:09 a.m.
Suggest removal
Darwin writes:
Froward69 writes: After all these 8 years of George Bush he finally did something for The American people. sadly, no ceremony, no fan fair, as he feels humiliated. by having to cave to the will of the people, and not the will of his cooperate buddies.
Are you kidding me. This bill will help maybe 1% or 2% of home buyers but WILL bail out many large banks and home builders. Once again, a corporate bailout. Pox to both Democrats and Republicans.
July 31, 2008
10:48 a.m.
Suggest removal
dilligaf writes:
PajamaPulitzer
You and SASQUATCH must have spent a lot of time with all this research and investigations on all these people that have lost their homes. How they ALL lied on their applications and bought a house they couldn't afford. And they where all losers. Surely they may have not lost there jobs because of this great economy we are enjoying. Surely they knew when the bought their homes their gas, utilities, health care, & food was going to double. You two must have lived in that same cave that your beloved president has been living in. Way out of touch with how many people are not enjoying the fruits like companies like Exxon/Mobil that just yesterday reported a 11 billion profit in just one quarter. The largest in our countries history. Boys that could be 44 billion in one year. Since you two are so brilliant you should be able to analyze that and realize how much that is. There are countries in this world that don't even have that much in their total economy.
YOU TWO ARE A COUPLE OF DOOZIES!!!
July 31, 2008
11:58 a.m.
Suggest removal
lencho_elias writes:
OMG!! Billions in Tax money going to help people of this nation keep their homes and not to war?? Not to CEO bailouts? Not to the oil fields of other countries??????!!!!!!
These crazy Democrats are at it again- what's next?? New schools for low income communities?? College money for young people who need help paying?? New benefits for our nations veterans?? God forbid, health care for every living person in the richest nation on Earth???
Its about time!!!!! Obama in 08!!!!!!!
July 31, 2008
12:26 p.m.
Suggest removal
dilligaf writes:
PajamaPulitzer
First of all my blog wasn't about if I was a fan of this bill. My blog was to point out that IDIOTS like you and that brilliant SASQUATCH automatically assume that all people that lost their homes are low life deadbeats. And you two are the most consistent bloggers that b--ch about liberals and their social programs. WELL LOOK WHO SIGNED THIS BILL INTO LAW MORON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
July 31, 2008
1:04 p.m.
Suggest removal
Canyonboy writes:
Let's see .... these folks can't possibly afford this mortgage, so I'll figure out a way to get them on the hook anyhow... and what's really cool is that as soon as they sign, I'll sell this turkey to someone else so I don't have to shoulder any of the risk. Greed with more than a dash of predation.
Our economic engine is based on convincing people they need all sorts of stuff and it is very adept at finding ways to enable the purchases so the money flows without consideration for anything else.
The lesson seems to be that if you hear of some part of the economy being deregulated, stay the heck away from it.
July 31, 2008
1:06 p.m.
Suggest removal
swimoutpassthebreakers writes:
Richest nation on earth. Ahhh that would be past tense, the United States has been slipping for years on a per capita basis. On the latest World Bank stats were number 15. Wooo wooo were number 15, far cry from number one. But then when the solution to everything is money for nothing this slippage is the logical economic conclusion. Egalitarianism is just wishful thinking kinda like the UFO people are going give us the solution to all are energy problems. Grow up, redistribution of the wealth has never and will never work, it just dooms everyone but chosen government functionary's to poverty. Executives of Exxon are just replaced by members of the Politburo or whatever the so called progressives have renamed it.
http://siteresources.worldbank.org/DA...
July 31, 2008
2:12 p.m.
Suggest removal
Heidi writes:
swimoutpastthebreakers...watch the world die.
That's what we're doing, huh?
I'm still waiting for my bailout for the thousands I've lost in the stock market...haha! What about all of the people who have lost their welfare checks in Central City? Where's their help?
To add to Sasquatch's comments about the renters: At least these homeowners don't stand the chance of eviction after a couple of months of not making payments.
July 31, 2008
2:52 p.m.
Suggest removal
dilligaf writes:
SASQUATCH
I'm going to try this one more time.
Q:
WHO SIGNED THIS INTO LAW?
A: A REPUBLICAN PRESIDENT!!!!!!!!!!!
I went ahead and answered the question for you because obviously your to stupid to do it your self.
July 31, 2008
4:32 p.m.
Suggest removal
infidel91 writes:
dilligaf wrote:
"your to stupid" Hmmm.
So Bush signed the housing bill into law. Does that somehow prove what a good piece of legislation it is? No, what it proves is that he's an economically illiterate moron. Thanks for catching that subtle nuance for us all.
July 31, 2008
5:25 p.m.
Suggest removal
infidel91 writes:
With all due respect to PJpulitzer, while his statement may well be true, I am neither a conservative nor a liberal (nor a libertarian).
I would also point out that it isn't really relevant that some people have been foreclosed on because of an unforeseeable disaster. There has always been some number of people who faced such misfortune. If they were the only ones to recently lose their homes, though, there wouldn't be anything different for us to notice. There would not be a "foreclosure crisis," there would be no media coverage, and politicians' attention would be focused elsewhere. The only reason there is a "crisis" is because such unfortunates were joined by hordes of people who overextended themselves on easy credit, and because of the lenders who figured the government would bail them out if the loans went bad.
The government has now reinforced the notions of irresponsible borrowers and lenders alike that Uncle Sam will always be there to make everything better when a gamble goes bad. Thus, a repeat of this whole situation has now been made more likely to occur in the future.
July 31, 2008
6:37 p.m.
Suggest removal
titancain writes:
sasquatch,
Most renters are scum. Most of the dead yards and dilapidated houses in my neigborhood are rentals. They rarley buy trash cans so their garbage blows down the alley.