States battle mortgage foreclosure threat

[flashl]

Frustrated by the slow pace of federal relief, states around the country are pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into their own programs to stem the rising tide of home foreclosures.

Some state political leaders complain that federal efforts to avert foreclosures have fallen far short. North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley said in a statement this month: "We have all been looking to the federal government to step in and do something about these foreclosures, and they have done nothing. So we decided we would do it on the state level."

At least nine states have committed more than $450 million to provide mainly subprime homeowners with emergency or short-term loans, a study by The Pew Charitable Trusts found. In some cases, states are buying foreclosed homes outright.

...

All told, about 20 states have launched foreclosure intervention or prevention initiatives.

"There's a lot of frustration with Congress," says Chris Kukla of the Center for Responsible Lending. "States are looking at every avenue they can. When they go home to voters this fall, they'll be asked, 'Why didn't you do more?' "

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USA Today

[tbyg52]

1. Hope BushCo doesn't try to stop them

like they did, IIRC, when several states tried to nip the subprime mess in the bud *before* it blew up in our faces.