In First Act as President, Trump Raises Mortgage Rates on Struggling Homeowners
After Donald Trump was sworn in as president, he delivered his inaugural address. Then he went to the White House, whereupon he stuck it to homeowners.
One of President Obama’s last acts as head of the executive branch was to instruct Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro to cut mortgage insurance premiums under the Federal Housing Authority (FHA). The move was intended to expand mortgages to lower-income families to allow them the opportunity to own a home, effectively saving FHA borrowers anywhere between $500 and $1,000 per year. Despite the housing crash of 2008, Secretary Castro said his administration would be more than capable of absorbing the hit in annual revenue, making a bailout of the FHA highly unlikely.
However, under the new executive order Trump signed on Friday evening, the cut in premium rates has now been suspended “indefinitely,” meaning low-income homeowners across the United States already struggling to pay their mortgage are now going to have to scrimp and save even more, as Trump’s latest action now makes them roughly $1,000 poorer.
The fact that this was Trump’s first executive order should be particularly surprising to anyone who took his inaugural address to heart. During his first address to the nation as president, Trump promised that the symbolic transfer of power from Barack Obama to himself would be instead a transfer of power from Washington to the people.
“What truly matters is not which party controls our government, but whether our government is controlled by the people,” Trump said. “January 20th 2017, will be remembered as the day the people became the rulers of this nation again.”
Photo: A piece of Donald Trump’s face. Source: HLRN file photo.
| Themes |
| • Discrimination • ESC rights • Financialization • Financing • Livelihoods • Low income • National • Property rights • Public policies • Public programs and budgets • Security of tenure • Tenants |
