Washington - The US government launched a new effort Monday to revive the country's flagging housing market, which lies at the heart of the economic crisis. The Treasury Department will offer state and local authorities new bonds and other financing mechanisms to help home buyers get low- interest mortgages. The idea is to help states struggling for funding on credit markets still frozen by the financial crisis.
Plunging home prices and a record number of mortgage defaults in the last two years were largely blamed for pushing the US financial industry to the brink of collapse last October.
Separately, Vice President Joe Biden launched a new White House effort to encourage owners to weatherize their homes in the hopes of reducing energy use. The administration will set national energy efficiency ratings in a bid to make upgrades more financially rewarding for families.
"Homeowners who are planning to invest in energy efficiency improvements will have a way to determine whether or not the energy savings and the increased home value is real," Biden said.
