Senator Sarbanes is the
Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee,
chaired the Banking Committee in the 107th Congress, and chaired the
Banking Committee's Housing Subcommittee in the 103rd Congress. He has
been an active participant in every major effort dealing with housing to
come before the Senate for over the past 20 years. These have included:
HOME Program: Played a major role in the
development and enactment of the National Affordable Housing Act of
1990, legislation that established the HOME Program which is a
partnership between Federal, State, and local governments and nonprofit
organizations to address a decline in affordable housing; has continued
his strong support in this critical area, including efforts to provide
adequate funding.
Predatory Lending Protections:
Introduced the Predatory Lending Consumer Protection Act to protect
homeowners from predatory lending practices, including excessive fees
and interest rates, hidden costs, unnecessary insurance and larger
repayments due in later years; Senator Sarbanes' bill would extend
protections under the Home Owners Equity Protection Act of 1994 to a
greater number of high-cost mortgage refinancings, home equity loans and
home repair loans, expand consumer protections to address additional
lending abuses, and strengthen enforcement provisions through modified
civil remedies and penalties. As Chairman, held numerous hearings on
predatory lending abuses, including the abuse of yield spread premiums,
which increase the costs of homeownership.
Preserving Affordable
Housing: Chief Democratic negotiator on legislation to preserve
tens of thousands of units of affordable housing in 1997; the program
lowered Federal rent payments, restructured mortgages, and extended
affordability requirements on multifamily housing developments. In 1999,
worked to ensure housing in high-rent markets remained in the affordable
housing stock by offering owners adequate returns while protecting low
income families from rent increases they could not afford. As Chairman,
Senator Sarbanes introduced and got passed the "Mark to Market Extension
Act of 2001," which reauthorized the mark to market (MTM) program first
created in 1998 for another 5 years, and reauthorized the Office of
Multifamily Housing Assistance Restructuring (OMHAR) for another 3
years.
Increasing Home Ownership
: Chief Banking Committee proponent of raising the FHA loan
limits in 1998 to make home ownership more widely available to first
time homebuyers, including minorities, and leading to an estimated
15,000 new homeowners every year. IN 2002, Senator Sarbanes introduced
and got passed legislation to permanently extend the FHA downpayment
simplification formula. This results in lower downpayments for FHA
borrowers.
Increasing Affordable Rental Housing: Senator
Sarbanes is a strong supporter of programs to increase affordable rental
housing. In the 107th Congress, he introduced the Housing Voucher
Improvement Act of 2002, legislation to ensure that people who receive
housing vouchers are able to find decent, safe and affordable housing.
Senator Sarbanes helped to negotiate provisions in the FY1999 and FY2000
VA/HUD appropriations bills to fund over 100,000 additional vouchers,
and worked to negotiate provisions in the FY2003 Appropriations bill to
ensure that housing authorities could use all of their authorized
vouchers. Senator Sarbanes also supports the creation of a National
Affordable Housing Trust Fund to build new affordable housing, and was
an original co-sponsor of legislation to establish such a trust
fund.
Public Housing Reform: Chief Democratic
proponent of public housing reform legislation passed in 1998 which
deregulated public housing authorities while ensuring that very
low-income residents were protected; included provisions to encourage
new capital investment in public housing and to increase economic
integration in public housing.
Private Mortgage Insurance: Helped write and
pass legislation that saves consumers from paying needless private
mortgage insurance (PMI) premiums on low downpayment loans; the law
requires the PMI to be cancelled after the consumer pays about 20
percent of the loan.
Low Income Housing Tax Credits: Strongly
supports the Low Income Housing Tax Credit program that provides tax
incentives for the development of affordable rental housing and has
worked to permanently extend this program. Original cosponsor of
legislation that passed to increase the tax credit cap by 40 percent and
indexing it for inflation.
Budget: Each year, Senator Sarbanes works to
ensure that there is adequate funding for housing and community
development programs. He has worked with the Bush Administration and key
appropriators to avert severe cuts in the HUD budget , and previously
intervened directly with President Clinton when the Office of Management
and Budget proposed cuts in important housing programs. While Chairman,
held hearings with HUD Secretary Martinez on the proposed budget for
housing programs.
HUD Management Reforms: Worked closely with the
Clinton Administration and HUD to develop an overall strategy to improve
the management of HUD and reestablish Federal leadership in the housing
area so as to expand housing opportunities for low- and moderate-income
Americans.
Interest Rates: Has been one of the leading
advocates in the Congress for low interest rates which are critical to
the homebuilding industry and for buyers and sellers of existing
homes.
Mortgage Revenue Bonds: Strongly supported
legislation to permanently extend the tax-exempt status of mortgage
revenue bonds that are used by State and local governments to provide
below-market loans for first-time homebuyers.
Maryland: Has a solid record of working with
state and local governments, nonprofit groups, and the housing and
lending industry to address housing problems in Maryland, and has
assisted Maryland to take full advantage of Federal housing
programs.
McKinney Homeless Assistance Act: Original
cosponsor and actively supported enactment of the McKinney Homeless
Assistance Act which provides housing and other support for the
homeless; supported reenactment of this vital program and worked to
provide adequate funding.
