WASHINGTON – Congresswoman Kathy Castor voted today to establish strict and extensive new accountability measures on the release of any new economic recovery funds. The bill also provides direct help to homeowners and communities. The first TARP bill’s lack of these provisions was among the reasons Castor voted against it twice in September.

A Castor amendment enacts a holiday on foreclosures. Also, working with Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank, she secured language in the bill to improve outreach to homeowners. The bill contains guidelines on executive compensation and increased oversight.

“As President Obama said yesterday, homes have been lost and our problems require swift action. Our work today to pass this plan, including $100 billion to help homeowners stay in their homes, is a critical first step,” Castor said. “We must keep homeowners in their homes. This is about helping ordinary residents maintain the dream and the stability of home ownership.”

Castor’s amendment calls for a holiday on foreclosures until the Obama Administration’s new housing and community stabilization plan is in place. The bill requires the Treasury and FDIC to develop a systematic loan modification program by April 1, and the program could take an additional few months to be fully implemented. The foreclosure holiday will prevent homeowners from falling in that gap and enable them to take full advantage of the new plan once implemented. Castor worked with Congresswoman Doris Matsui of California on the amendment.

Castor also secured language in the bill that requires sufficient mortgage servicers to provide outreach and education at the local level to help homeowners directly establish loan mitigation plans.

“Our local housing experts have told me it is very difficult to reach out to families in need or those that can benefit from foreclosure assistance without adequate personnel and resources to reach out to communities,” Castor said. “The number of modified loans is far fewer than it could be if we had expanded outreach and more counselors.”

The foreclosure crisis continues to hurt Florida. Florida posted the second-highest foreclosure rate in the nation, according to research firm RealtyTrac, with 385,309 properties receiving a foreclosure filing. The Tampa Bay area had the 13^th highest foreclosure rank in the country, with 56,630 filings in 2008, a 123 percent increase over 2007.