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The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development made mention to thelawmakers it couldn't pronounce if the Federal Housing Administration would cover new mortgages in communities together with Richmond, California that propose to seize home loans through eminent domain."Pending legal developments and possible further execution of the plans in question, HUD does not know whether any new mortgages which might be created would qualify for insurance by the Federal Housing Administration," Acting Assistant Secretary Elliot Mincberg wrote in an Aug. 12 letter responding to questions from members of Congress. The week following the FHFA HUD's comments came, which oversees Fannie Mae (FNMA) and Freddie Mac, said it would considering directing the companies to stop doing business in communities that seize mortgages through eminent domain to avert foreclosure by writing down the principal balances. The Federal Housing Finance Agency may also initiate legal challenges to such actions, Alfred M. Pollard, the agency's general counsel, said in a memorandum. "There is a rational basis to conclude that the use of eminent domain by localities to restructure loans for borrowers that are 'underwater' on their mortgages presents a clear threat to the safe and sound operations of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks as provided in federal law," Pollard wrote. Blight Prevention In the preceding month, Richmond announced it is moving ahead with a plan to seize mortgages. The public benefit of the seizures is to fend off foreclosures that cause blight and create other costs for the community, according to the plan's supporters. At the minimum of a dozen cities still dealing with the fallout of most horrible slump in home prices from the time when the Great Depression are studying the eminent domain idea. Others include El Monte, California, North Las Vegas, Nevada, and Irvington, New Jersey. Communities such as San Bernardino County, Californ

The Bank of England plans to cut its support for mortgage lending in the U.K. and nudge banks towards lending more to small businesses, it said Thursday, November 28. The move is an answer to increasing concern that a speedy pickup in housing market activity in Britain could ultimately turn unpleasant, affecting banks and borrowers, and also as longstanding worries that small firms are being starved of credit, hindering economic recovery. What's more, it is a sample of the growing willingness of central banks across the globe to organize customized policies to maneuver their economies, rather than relying exclusively on official interest. The BOE said in its twice-yearly financial stability report that although there is little evidence that quickening activity in Britain's housing market poses an immediate threat to financial stability, "risks may grow if stronger activity is accompanied by further substantial and rapid increases in house prices and a further buildup in household indebtedness." The central bank said property has played "a central role" in many previous economic and financial crises. In the U.K., real estate accounts for 70% of non-financial assets. House prices in the U.K. have climbed speedily in past months, formed worries over the materialization of a new bubble in prices. A government mortgage-support program for would-be homebuyers called Help-to-Buy had pave the way for a boost in mortgage lending, together with an increase in the number of riskier loans on offer that entail merely a small down payment. The BOE said that in response to the pickup in housing-market activity and an ongoing dearth in small-business lending it has decided to overhaul its flagship Funding-for-Lending Scheme, or FLS, which offers banks cheap cash provided they use it to dish out loans to households and businesses. Banks drawing on the FLS will from January no longer benefit from reduced capital requirements on new mortgage lo