House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) introduced legislation (HR 3068) that would that would send $2.5 billion in TARP dividends to housing programs created by the last Congress and dedicate $4 billion of what remains from the original $700 billion in TARP funding to other efforts to help struggling homeowners.



Under the bill, $1 billion in dividend payments by TARP recipients would go to the National Housing Trust Fund, which was set up by Congress in 2007 to ensure that a steady base of public funding would be available for the construction, rehabilitation and preservation of affordable housing units. The trust fund is still awaiting money to get started. The Obama administration, led by HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan, has proposed $1 billion for the program as part of its fiscal 2010 budget.



The measure would also direct $1.5 billion of the TARP dividend payments to the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, which was enacted last summer to help state and local governments acquire and redevelop foreclosed properties. Read More…