HUD SECRETARY DONOVAN STATEMENT ON THE HELPING FAMILIES SAVE THEIR HOMES ACT OF 2009

May 20, 2009

HUD SECRETARY DONOVAN STATEMENT ON THE HELPING FAMILIES SAVE THEIR HOMES ACT OF 2009

WASHINGTON - Today, President Obama signed into law the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009. The law expands the reach of the Administration's Making Home Affordable Programs, improves the Federal Housing Administration's Hope for Homeowners program and streamlines how HUD supports thousands of homeless support programs across America.

The following is a statement from HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan:

"Today, President Obama signed into law the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009. This is another critical step forward in this Administration's effort to strengthen our nation's housing market and help millions of American homeowners stay in their homes.

"Specifically, this law improves FHA's Hope for Homeowners Program, making it a more flexible and attractive option for homeowners and lenders alike. By reducing the cost of this program and easing the eligibility requirements, we believe Hope for Homeowners is better able to help struggling families. The law also permits FHA lenders to offer families more substantial loan modifications, similar to those currently provided under the Making Home Affordable program.

"FHA will now have more authority to keep bad actors out of the FHA programs and additional enforcement tools to police those lenders who employ false or misleading marketing tactics.

"Finally, this law allows HUD to take a giant leap forward in our ability to help thousands of local homeless housing and service programs across this country. Local communities will have much greater flexibility to put federal funding to work in a way that makes sense for them. I applaud the Congress for its hard work to give us the tools we need to meet the modern challenges that confront those who would otherwise be faced with living on our streets."