Gibbons should stand up to lenders, push them to help homeowners, FHA official says

Thursday, Oct. 4, 2007 | 7:31 a.m.

One of the invited participants at today's closed-door housing summit to be hosted by Gov. Jim Gibbons in Las Vegas said he hopes the governor takes advantage of available solutions that could help some Nevada homeowners avoid foreclosure.

Kenneth LoBene, Las Vegas field office director for the Federal Housing Administration, said Wednesday on "Face to Face With Jon Ralston" on Las Vegas ONE (cable channel 19) that he hopes Gibbons will "get a message out to everyone that there are alternatives that can lessen the crisis."

"Hopefully he'll take these kinds of alternatives," LoBene said. "At some point somebody needs to be able to stand up and say to the lending community: 'This is an impending crisis. There's a train wreck coming. We all know it. You guys are part of the problem. Now become part of the solution.' "

Gibbons called the summit of lenders and others involved in the housing crisis to determine whether the state can help homeowners at risk of losing their homes, including those with adjustable mortgage rates that have increased or are scheduled to do so soon.

LoBene said FHA Secure, a mortgage refinancing program proposed by President Bush, could help roughly 25 percent of Nevadans at risk of losing their homes after their mortgage rates rise.

To be eligible, a homeowner must be delinquent 30 days because of the rate reset but must have made at least six consecutive payments on time before the reset.

Congressional Democrats have criticized Bush's plan, saying it does not go far enough.

LoBene, whose agency is the world's largest mortgage insurer, said lenders don't have to reset mortgage s to the highest rates possible but to do less might require approval of investors who have purchased the loans.

He also said that if rates are reset lower, help may not be available to those who cannot afford the lower rates.

Appearing with LoBene was Assemblyman Marcus Conklin, D-Las Vegas, who was appointed by Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, to study possible solutions for housing problems.

"We have to look at this and say, 'How do we help those people who got sucked into the market versus helping those who were speculators in the market ?' " Conklin said.

"We have to start to save people who are living in the house they purchased who were caught in this market. That's our first priority because, if we can't help them, they will end up in the government rolls in some other fashion."

Conklin said some lenders have indicated a desire to provide money to community groups such as the Nevada Fair Housing Center to reach out to people at risk of losing their homes, "because they know the folks at risk of foreclosure will not call the bank."