Clinton calls for $30 billion housing fund

By Jeff Mason

ANDERSON, Indiana (Reuters) - Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton called on Thursday for a second stimulus package, including a $30 billion emergency housing fund, to help boost the ailing U.S. economy.

Saying "the housing and credit crisis is the biggest threat to the health of our economy," the New York senator said the emergency fund would help states buy foreclosed properties and provide mortgage restructuring.

Her proposal also included expanding the Mortgage Revenue Bond Program by giving state housing agencies up to $10 billion to refinance "unworkable mortgages," the Clinton campaign said in a statement.

Clinton is in a tight race with Illinois Sen. Barack Obama for her party's nomination and the right to face Republican Sen. John McCain in the November presidential election.

Her campaign said the newly enacted $168 billion stimulus package passed by the U.S. Congress and signed by President George W. Bush did not go far enough to address the housing problem.

"Declining home values and record foreclosures threaten to not only devastate millions of American families but send communities across the country spiraling into deep recession."

Clinton poured scorn on Bush for not addressing the nation's deteriorating economic situation with more urgency.

"I think that we have been badly served by this administration," she told reporters earlier in Terre Haute, Indiana.