Obama Housing Refinance Proposal and Program Essay

Obama Housing Refinance Proposal and Program - Essay Example According to the research findings it can therefore be said that President Obama announced a new plan to help struggling homeowners who are current on their mortgages, but underwater by refinancing. Mortgage rates are currently at historical lows and Obama would like to make refinancing into these historic rates available to more homeowners across the country. Obama anticipates providing relief to about 3.5 million people with underwater mortgages. Obama expect the average homeowner to save roughly $300-$500 a month by refinancing into these new low rates. He explained that refinancing would help free up additional money for consumers, therefore helping to stimulate the economy. Obama faces stiff opposition from Republicans in Congress on his refinancing plan, which must first pass congress. United States is known as the ‘land of opportunities’ and people from all over the world come to the country in hope of a better future. But this land of opportunities is facing some serious crisis lately. The financial crisis of 2008 has hit the country badly and has affected the majority of the population. Approximately 11 million people are suffering from serious financial watershed and they cannot even afford a proper shelter to live in. The reason for these problems in the United States and the attempts that American President Barack Obama made to ease the issues of the citizens will be discussed in this paper. The residents of the United States were mortgaged in large numbers and therefore the collapse of the housing market forced many people out on the streets. The homeowners were to pay off the amount of money that was worth more than their houses which was due to the decrease in property rates all over the country. This is where the decision maker Obama stepped in. He decided to revise the Housing Refinance Proposal that would bring out the homeowners from their misery. Previous Financing Policies The United States government is well known for their ex tra ordinary Housing Finance Policies. The housing policies of the country are considered as standards for the less developed countries. Let’s discuss briefly about the previous Financing Policies that were implemented by the United States government. The United States Housing Policy allowed residents to have tax deductable interest payments. This practice is unique because a certain amount of tax is always applied on the interest payments for loans in different parts of the world (Barth, et. al.178). The deduction of tax meant a great assistance for the house owners of the country. Furthermore, the United States government also set up an organization that would be responsible for providing securities to the loan borrowers. The organization was named as the Federal Housing Administration and the FHA was there to handle the security issues. Therefore no one was denied a loan because of absence of security or collateral. Unfortunately the policies that were devised by the US go vernment did not work even though they contained some points that were exemplary for the rest of the world. The Housing Policy of the US failed dramatically because every other person was given loans that they couldn’t afford. The assumption behind the policies was that property prices will continue to increase in future. The reason behind the failure was also the benefits provided to the borrowers. Giving loans without proper collaterals was a big mistake of US administration. Issues of the existing policies and poverty of people The policies that were set up by the US government were for the prosperity of the homeowners. US being a democratic nation, prevailing policies were not appreciated by all. Many banks austerely protested against the deduction of tax. According to their point of view, excluding the tax would not be fruitful for the banks in the long run. Also the numbers of the customers getting loans certainly increased as a result of these policies. This resulted i n more