Las Vegas Sun

March 19, 2024

POLITICS:

President will focus on housing during trip to Reno

Sun Archives

Nevada’s signature issue, housing, will be the featured item on President Barack Obama’s rather short agenda when he comes to Reno on Friday.

Obama is promoting his recently unveiled “to do list” for Congress — a five-point plan touching on housing, clean energy, veterans and tax credits to incentivize job growth.

During his Reno trip, Obama will press Congress to “cut the red tape so that responsible homeowners across the country who have been paying their mortgage on time can feel secure in their home and refinance at today’s lower rates.”

The White House proposal relaxes the definition of “responsible homeowner” somewhat. Traditionally, the administration has only considered homeowners to be eligible for foreclosure mitigation programs if they have not missed a payment in 12 months. Obama’s new plan shortens that to six months with the caveat that homeowners cannot have missed more than one mortgage payment in the six months before that.

The proposal also begins to address the idea of principal reduction by allowing homeowners to divert more of their monthly payment toward the principal under refinancing agreements.

The president announced his plan this week. By Tuesday, Republicans were already scoffing at the idea that Obama would unveil a “to do list” after being in office for three and a half years.

The president plans to hold one official event to discuss mortgage refinancing after meeting with a local family in Reno on Friday.

Join the Discussion:

Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.

Full comments policy