Banning Home Foreclosures?

Here's a legislative stab at ending the housing crisis that's sure to be more controversial than most:

"Rep. Maxine Waters, the chairwoman of the House Financial Services housing subcommittee, introduced a bill Wednesday that would ban foreclosures unless lenders and services made 'reasonable' efforts to modify mortgages," The American Banker reports. "The California Democrat said the legislation is necessary because current industry efforts, including those by the Hope Now alliance, are not moving quickly enough."

"The fundamental problem is that the mortgage servicers have no legal obligation to make a reasonable effort to keep a borrower in delinquency in his or her home, even where that borrower may have been the victim of a predatory, unaffordable loan," Rep. Waters said in a press release. "The time has come to add a stick to the carrots being offered to mortgage servicers to do what it takes to stem this crisis now."

Full article is here.