{"id":2825,"date":"2008-02-04T12:20:00","date_gmt":"2008-02-04T18:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/02\/legislature-considers-helping-with-home-costs\/"},"modified":"2008-02-04T12:20:00","modified_gmt":"2008-02-04T18:20:00","slug":"legislature-considers-helping-with-home-costs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/02\/legislature-considers-helping-with-home-costs\/","title":{"rendered":"Legislature considers helping with home costs"},"content":{"rendered":"

This column was submitted Friday, but because I\u2019ve been busy covering the presidential caucus, I\u2019m just now getting around to publishing it. I apologize.<\/span> <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>By Diane Denish<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

We\u2019re at that point of the session where nerves go jangling. Advocates for good, social causes scour the budget that the House has prepared hoping \u2013 sometimes against hope \u2013 that their programs received a blessing. Lobbyists roam from committee room to committee room trying to advance, amend or kill bills.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/a>This last week, we heard a lot of chatter and debate about bills reforming health care and ethics, authorizing stem-cell research and funding state government.<\/p>\n

\n

What we didn\u2019t hear a lot about is one of the most fundamental issues facing not only New Mexico<\/st1:state> families but families across the United States<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region>: the ability \u2013 and the right \u2013 to own an affordable home of their own.<\/p>\n

\n

More and more of us are watching a national mortgage crisis that threatens to destroy families\u2019 equity, not to mention the comfort and safety that they experience in owning a place that is theirs and theirs alone.<\/p>\n

\n

Home equity is the key to personal financial success. We know that buying a home helps build an economic background to support a family\u2019s future. A home outlives the life of a mortgage. More important, a home gives people a stake in their communities. It makes them better neighbors, gets them involved in their children\u2019s schools and ensures they\u2019ll be good citizens.<\/p>\n

\n

A handful of bills are working their way through this year\u2019s session that aim to not only support those aims but the goals of creating a cleaner, greener future. They\u2019re initiatives of the state\u2019s Mortgage Finance Authority<\/a>, of which I\u2019m honored to serve as chair. Among them:<\/p>\n

\n

\u2022 $2.5 million for the Energy$avers Program<\/p>\n

\n

This provides low- or even no-interest loans to builders who install energy-efficient systems when they\u2019re building new homes or to new or existing home-buyers who retrofit their homes to be more energy efficient.<\/p>\n

\n

We all want to be more green, to save energy and reduce our carbon footprint, but for people who are pinching pennies (and that means most of us), easing the sticker shock of opening a utility bill matters more than the philosophical intent to spare our children\u2019s earth.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

That said, the upfront and extra costs of energy-efficient roofs, windows and heating and cooling systems can\u2019t be ignored. They\u2019re an investment in the future, and whatever we as a state can do to support that investment will benefit all of us in the long run.<\/p>\n

\n

\u2022 $2 million for the Emergency Repair Fund<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

While we don\u2019t anticipate a Katrina-scale catastrophe here, we have a history of neighborhoods flooded by monsoons, roofs damaged by snow and families forced to deal with a loved one\u2019s sudden disability.<\/p>\n

\n

This fund provides money for repairs to homes, inside or out, and pays for disability modifications.<\/p>\n

\n

\u2022 $2 million for the HERO Program<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Since 2005, the state has provided homebuying help to families where at least one member is a police officer, nurse, teacher, firefighter or active member of the armed services. To date, the program has leveraged first- and second-mortgages to a total of $30 million, and estimates this $2 million will leverage another $30 million in below-market loans and down-payments.<\/p>\n

\n

This aid goes to essential workers who often can\u2019t afford to live in the communities they serve. These are hardworking, taxpaying citizens who just so happen to make very good neighbors.<\/p>\n

\n

\u2022 $1 million for the Homebuyer Education Program<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Helping someone finance a new home isn\u2019t enough. We must help them understand the financial intricacies underlying the variety of mortgage loans out there \u2013 witness what too many people are experiencing under adjustable-rate mortgages. <\/p>\n

\n

Foreclosures not only cost families dreams, but hurt an entire neighborhood\u2019s property values. The more we can prepare a first-time homeowner for the realities of the market, the better.<\/p>\n

\n

While Congress debates the best way to rescue a damaged homeownership landscape, the New Mexico Legislature is taking steps to give more of our citizens an avenue to the American dream.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Denish<\/a> is the state\u2019s lieutenant governor. She will be writing a weekly column throughout the 30-day legislative session that is underway. You can reach her office at (505) 476-2250.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This column was submitted Friday, but because I\u2019ve been busy covering the presidential caucus, I\u2019m just now getting around to publishing it. I apologize. By Diane Denish We\u2019re at that point of the session where nerves go jangling. Advocates for good, social causes scour the budget that the House has prepared hoping \u2013 sometimes against […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-guest-columns"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2825\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}