WASHINGTON — The Bush administration announced new steps Wednesday to help more homeowners head off foreclosure. The Senate, in the meantime, worked to complete a bipartisan housing bill that the White House says would worsen the mortgage mess.
The administration said it would use a Federal Housing Administration program to enable more low- and moderate-income homeowners to refinance into government-insured mortgages with payments they can afford.
The plan would reach about 100,000 people — rather than between 1 million and 2 million under a Democratic proposal — without requiring lenders to take large losses.
Bush’s plan expands FHASecure, which takes homeowners who have some equity in their homes and have kept up with their mortgage payments but are facing a hefty rate hike and allows them to refinance into a government-insured fixed-rate loan.
Democrats say the initiative has done too little for struggling homeowners and doesn’t reach the vast majority of hard-pressed borrowers. The Associated Press
