The housing bill Congress sent to President Bush would:
• Give the Federal Housing Administration $300 billion in new lending authority and relax standards to provide affordable, fixed-rate mortgages to an estimated 400,000 debt-ridden homeowners. Any losses would be covered by an affordable- housing fund financed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government- sponsored companies that finance mortgages.
• Allow the Treasury Department temporary authority to lend money to Fannie and Freddie or buy their stock to avert a collapse of one or both of the mortgage giants. The authority would expire Dec. 31, 2009.
• Create a new regulator and tighten controls on Fannie and Freddie, including power for the regulator to approve pay packages for company executives. Create a new affordable-housing fund drawn from their profits. Permanently raise the limit on the loans they may buy to $625,000 in the highest-cost areas. Allow them to buy loans 15 percent higher than the median home price in some cities.
• Provide $3.9 billion in grants to the hardest-hit communities for buying and fixing up foreclosed property.
• Modernize the FHA and allow it to back loans for riskier borrowers. Permanently increase the size of loans the agency may insure to $625,000 in the highest – cost areas.
• Provide $15 billion in housing tax breaks, including for low-income housing. Give a credit of up to $7,500 for first-time homebuyers who purchase residences between April 9, 2008, and July 1, 2009. The Associated Press
