Housing Bill Includes Grants for Community Revitalization

Lawmakers hope a bill passed last week by Congress will help up to 400-thousand struggling American homeowners. But a local mortgage banking industry expert says many Louisville homeowners won’t qualify for the refinanced, government-backed loans.Mortgage Bankers Association of Louisville President Adam Hall says the loans will only be available to homeowners who are upside-down in their mortgage because of plummeting property values."We haven’t seen dramatic declines in our home values because obviously we didn’t see dramatic run-ups in home values," says Hall, "so I don’t know if this legislation is specifically going to open the floodgates for people to be able to refinance here."Hall says there is a provision of the bill that will help the Louisville area. Nearly four-billion dollars in grants will be doled out to local communities to help revitalize areas that have been neglected because of foreclosures. Hall says that will help neighborhoods retain their property value.