As the crisis deepens, threatening to drag down other sectors of
the economy, the federal government must take steps now to provide
the assistance necessary to help soften the blow on both individual
families and on the economy as a whole.
In recognition
of this fact, the Senate Finance Committee, of which I am a member,
held a hearing this week to examine and identify possible legislative
solutions to the downturn in our Nation’s housing market.
Below is an
excerpt from a statement I submitted for the record at the Senate
Finance Committee yesterday:
“…Our
nation is in the middle of a crisis in the residential housing market.
While the impact of this crisis is severe enough on the families
who overextended themselves and on their neighbors who bought homes
expecting their values to continue to increase, the most disturbing
thing about the crisis is that it threatens to create a serious
drag on the economy as a whole...
“In its
early stages, the housing crisis hit my state of Colorado especially
hard. Last spring, one in 339 homes in Colorado was in some stage
of foreclosure – the highest rate in the nation. While Colorado’s
national ranking has dropped over the past year and a half –
due to much higher foreclosure rates in certain other states –
foreclosures continue to grow in my state. According to the Colorado
Division of Housing, foreclosures have increased by well over 100%
since 2003.
“There
is no silver bullet to this problem. However, there are steps we
can take now to provide some measure of relief to those who have
already been affected and to protect others from being in the same
position in the future….
“I am
interested in hearing more from our witnesses about these ideas,
and about how to move forward generally on this issue in a way that
helps American families who find themselves in a difficult position
and mitigates the impact of the foreclosure crisis on the economy
as a whole, without encouraging some of the shortsighted decisions
that contributed to this crisis in the first place.”
Click
here for the full text of my statement.
In my remarks,
I also highlighted how private and non-profit partnerships in Colorado,
such as the Colorado Foreclosure Hotline, have stepped in to lend
a hand to Colorado families faced with the specter of home foreclosure.
If you are currently
experiencing difficulty meeting your mortgage payments, expect to
in the future, or simply need someone to help answer your foreclosure-related
questions, please contact the Hotline at 1-877-601-HOPE or by visiting
their website here.
In addition,
building on the input we received at the hearing, the Senate passed
a package of targeted tax relief for Americans affected by the housing
decline. The centerpiece of the measure is a provision to temporarily
eliminate the tax on mortgage debt forgiveness for primary residences
up to $2 million. I cosponsored the proposal, and will work to see
it passed by Congress and signed into law as soon as possible.
This is a difficult
time for many Americans who have lost their homes and an equally
troubling time for those who are seeing the value of their homes
plummet as a result of the housing decline. As a member of the United
States Senate, I will work to ensure that this problem is adequately
addressed at the federal level, and more importantly, do whatever
I can to see that the excesses and missteps that led to the crisis
in the first place are not repeated in the future.
Sincerely,
Ken Salazar
United States Senator |
