The bottom line

Housing

A home should be refuge from worry rather than a cause of it. But we know that right now, far too many of our fellow citizens are worrying about keeping the roof over their head. Senate Democrats are pursuing a robust housing agenda to directly address and alleviate this widespread housing insecurity, with the following principles in mind:

• Protecting consumers by reforming lending practices
• Preventing and ending homelessness
• Preserving and creating more affordable housing

On January 18, we approved legislation to provide:

• Mortgage counseling for 2,500 new homebuyers and those facing foreclosure (Berkey -- SB 6272),
• An emergency appropriation to the Washington Families Fund to provide help for an additional 1,000 families without homes over a three-year time period (Prentice -- SB 6335), and
• The creation of the Transitional Housing Operating and Rent (THOR) program within CTED to assist homeless individuals and families secure and retain safe, decent and affordable housing (Hargrove -- SB 5959).

On Friday Jan. 18, at 8 a.m. in SHR 3, the Senate Consumer Protection & Housing Committee heard legislation addressing the subprime mortgage crisis by:

• Making the loan process more transparent by requiring brokers to clearly disclose their fees and profits (Tom -- no bill number yet).
• Regulating over 300 previously unregulated mortgage brokers (Weinstein -- no bill number yet).
• Imposing fiduciary duty on mortgage brokers – the legal responsibility for the mortgage broker to act in the best interest of the borrower (Weinstein -- SB 6381).