WASHINGTON – The National Association of Home Builders have started a lobbying campaign for a share of the proposed multibillion-dollar federal economic stimulus package, which, if approved, is expected to be released by mid-February.
“Our industry stands at a crossroads and our efforts here today are vital to the housing industry’s ability to weather this storm and come out the other side healthy and in a position to grow,” NAHB Chairman Sand Dunn said in a statement this month. “Congress must understand that housing is central to the economic crisis, that housing has led our nation out of past recessions and that it can do so again.”
The key stimulus efforts, NAHB said, would include enhancing the $7,500 first-time homebuyers credit, continuing foreclosure-prevention actions and providing below-market interest rates – as low as 2.99 percent – for new 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage.
NAHB’s Fix Housing First coalition is asking for homebuyer tax credits of up to 10 percent of the home’s price, likely ranging between $10,000 and $22,000.
Detailed information on the campaign can be found at www.fixhousingfirst.com.
