$18 billion infusion for N.J. housing - Fannie Mae program will assist urban buyers
Star-Ledger, The (Newark, NJ) - November 17, 1999
Author: George E. Jordan, Star-Ledger Staff
Fannie Mae, the nation’s largest source of home mortgage financing, said yesterday it will invest $18 billion in New Jersey over five years to encourage banks to finance tens of thousands of first-time homebuyers in the state’s urban centers.
The money is aimed at making homeowners of 180,000 low- and moderate-income families that Fannie Mae says are underserved by commercial lenders, including:
New immigrants.
People with credit problems.
Purchasers of two- and three-family homes.
Low-income buyers of “affordable” units built by nonprofit housing agencies.
Funds also are going toward home renovation loans and employer-assisted homebuying programs.
The Fannie Mae program is directed at families with household incomes of less than $38,400 a year. That figure represents 80 percent of the state’s median household income of $48,021. It’s the equivalent of providing 36,000 mortgages per year of $100,000 for five years.
A major beneficiary is Newark, where Jamie S. Gorelick , Fannie Mae’s vice chairman, announced the investment plan to a gathering of northern New Jersey’s political leaders, housing advocates and captains of the banking and construction industries.
Fannie Mae announced it was opening a Partnership Office in downtown Newark and has committed through Summit Bank to provide no-money-down, 30-year mortgages at 6.5 percent interest for 800 new homes in the city’s South Ward. The city plans to sell vacant lots to builders for as little as $1 as sites for two-family homes.
“This city is going to rock and roll, as will the rest of New Jersey,” said Gorelick , a former U.S. deputy attorney general. “One of the astonishing facts is this city is so happening, we cannot find space for our office. That is just astonishing.”
(snip)
Lucky Jamie Gorelick. She made millions by arranging for people with poor credit histories and no income to buy homes.
Jamie is a big buddy of Bob Steel, former Chairman of the Board of Trustees at Duke University and now heading up (or more likely heading down) Wachovia.
Look for both Gorelick and Steel to make more millions from the Wachovia disaster.
Anyone seen any numbers for how many loans went to illegal immigrants? Just curious.