Housing Bill Won't 'Perform Miracles'

Senate Approves Measure, but Critics Say Law Unlikely to Prevent Most Foreclosures


By Lori Montgomery and Paul Kane Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, July 27, 2008; Page A01

Even as a huge bipartisan majority in the Senate voted yesterday to send a sprawling housing bill to the White House, economists, consumer advocates and other analysts said the package of programs for struggling homeowners and shaken mortgage lenders is unlikely to relieve the foreclosure crisis that is driving the nation toward recession.

"This is not the end of the housing crunch," said Jared Bernstein, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute. "Housing prices have already fallen 15 percent and they need to fall 10 percent more. This bill isn't going to change that equation."