On March 16, the House passed H.R. 861, Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) Termination Act, introduced by Rep. Gary Miller (R-CA) which would terminate funding for the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP).  The Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) is aimed at stabilizing communities affected by the mortgage foreclosure crisis by providing funding to state and local government agencies to purchase, rehabilitate or demolish foreclosed and abandoned properties.

According to House Financial Services Committee Chairman Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-AL), “this program creates perverse incentives for banks and other lenders to foreclose on homeowners. This program is not only bad for struggling homeowners, it’s horrible for taxpayers, too. It uses taxpayer money to bail out lenders and real estate speculators. We simply cannot continue to use taxpayer dollars to bailout those who made bad decisions.”

This month the House also voted to end two additional bills to end federal foreclosure programs- H.R. 830, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Refinance Program Termination Act, and H.R. 836, the Emergency Mortgage Relief Program Termination Act.

The White House has threatened to veto the foreclosure bills which will go to the Senate for consideration.