Mitt Romney’s campaign sent out a press release on Monday attacking President Obama’s housing policies in Nevada. The release includes a quote from a Democratic Congressman warning that the administration is letting the housing crisis run its course. Oddly enough, Romney recently recommended doing just that in the same state.
The e-mailed release, entitled “PRESIDENT OBAMA’S BROKEN PROMISES ON HOUSING HAVE DEVASTATED NEVADA.” excerpts the following quote from Rep. Dennis Cardoza (D-CA) in bold, among others criticisms from Democratic lawmakers upset with the administration’s housing record:
“How bad does it have to get before this administration wakes up and seriously tackles this housing catastrophe? Without bold action, millions of more families will lose their homes and our economy will continue to stall. If this administration continues to stick its head in the sand and wait for the housing crisis to run its course, I am afraid the president could end up losing his current residence in 2012.”
Strong words, of course. But then this was Romney in Nevada last week talking to the Las Vegas Review Journal:
“As to what to do for the housing industry specifically — and are there things that you can do to encourage housing? One is, don’t try and stop the foreclosure process,” said Romney. “Let it run its course and hit the bottom, allow investors to buy up homes, put renters in them, fix the homes up, and let it turn around and come back up.”
Democrats pounced on the latter quote as evidence that Romney would do nothing to help fix the housing crisis in badly-hit Nevada. Romney indicated in the same interview that he may be open to a more active approach in some areas, but did not commit to any specific policies.
Asked about the similarity between the two quotes, Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul told TPM that Romney “believes the housing crisis is tied intimately with the economic crisis we face and what we need to do is revive our economy to revive the housing market.”
In an e-mail to TPM, Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt accused Romney of failing to provide his own housing plan.
“It is no surprise that Governor Romney didn’t mention his housing plan in his attack on the President today, because instead of helping responsible homeowners to refinance, like the President has, Governor Romney would let the foreclosure process ‘hit the bottom’ so that investors can come in and make a quick buck,” he said. “This is just one more sign that Governor Romney has no plan to strengthen economic security for the middle class.”
The administration has taken plenty of heat over programs it put in place to combat foreclosures and President Obama said in an interview this summer that it’s “probably been the area that’s been most stubborn to us trying to solve the problem.” LaBolt said that the administration’s efforts have nonetheless helped lead to millions of mortgage modifications for eligible homeowners.
