Is housing the key to saving our economy?
The economic news is more than grim these days; It’s downright frightening. And the news that the proposed bailout of the Big Three automakers died yesterday has done little to cheer up anyone.
The government’s big $700 bailout of banks and mortgage lenders hasn’t done much to help, either. So what’s next?
Some experts say that the government’s best move would be to do everything it can to help stimulate the country’s housing market and to protect homeowners in danger of losing their properties to foreclosure. Sounds like a good plan to me.
Mark Trumbull, in a story he wrote for the Christian Science Monitor, interviews economists who say that the best hope for reviving the country’s economy lies in narrowly targeted government policies that provide a boost to individual homeowners of home buyers. This, of course, includes programs designed to cut down on the rising number of housing foreclosures sweeping the country.
This is sound thinking. The economy is going nowhere but down until the number of mortgage-loan defaults and housing foreclosures drops significantly. Last week, remember, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported that one out of every 10 mortgage holders is either in foreclosure or is at least one month late making mortgage payments. That is one scary number.
It seems that the general public is moderately in favor of the government doing something to help homeowners facing foreclosure. The Christian Science Monitor story cites an October poll that says that 54 percent of U.S. residents said the government should help homeowners in trouble because their interest rates went up.
I know many other people think it’s a waste of money to help homeowners struggling to make their mortgage payments. Many of these homeowners got themselves into financial trouble by being greedy enough to purchase a home that was too large and costly for them, critics say.
Well, this may be true in some instances. But many other homeowners are struggling to pay their bills because they lost their jobs or suffered a serious illness or injury. And, yes, you may say these owners should have been prepared for such an emergency. But how many of us can truly survive a job loss or catastrophic injury without suffering serious financial ramifications? I know I wouldn’t be able to.
So let’s show some compassion. And let’s hope that our government leaders can come up with some targeted, effective way to help struggling homeowners.
