Just a few years ago, most families had never heard of mortgage backed securities, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac or Lehman Brothers. Most families played by the rules and worked hard to provide a safe home in a good school district for their children. They paid their bills on time every month and lived within their means. Today, many of those families are struggling to make their mortgage payments or are even facing the possibility of foreclosure.  

If we are going to strengthen and sustain our economic recovery, we need to focus on strengthening our communities. That means building and maintaining affordable homeownership opportunities in Delaware and across the nation. It also means preventing foreclosures, improving energy efficiency programs and responsibly winding down the federal government’s intervention in the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  

To be clear, since the housing bubble burst, Congress and the Bush and Obama Administrations have taken unprecedented action to prevent the downturn in the housing sector from becoming an irreversible cycle of delinquencies, declining values and foreclosures. Unfortunately, millions of folks on Main Street, including far too many families in the First State, were put in harm’s way by the irresponsible actions of a few bad actors. The challenge for Congress and the Obama Administration remains keeping our housing market on the long-term path to a sustainable recovery.  

We have a long way to go until our housing market fully recovers, but in some parts of the country, recovery is beginning to take hold and home prices are beginning to stabilize. In other parts of the country, like Nevada and Florida, it might be years until the housing market turns around. No matter what part of the country you live in, however, common-sense initiatives like the homebuyer tax credit, combined with the Federal Reserve driving down 30-year fixed mortgage interest rates, have improved the housing market and have actually made this one of the best periods in my lifetime to buy or refinance a home.  

Even still, foreclosure is still a dangerous prospect for millions of families, and the Obama Administration must commit every resource at its disposal to stem the tide of foreclosures nationwide. Specifically, the Making Home Affordable Program, which helps homeowners avoid foreclosure by modifying at-risk loans or refinancing into lower interest rates, must improve the number of permanent loan modifications. The results of the program thus far are encouraging, but it's not enough.  

Finally, if you or anyone you know is facing foreclosure, do not hesitate to contact one of my offices for assistance.