When good policy is defunded

Oh man, this is bad. I mean, really bad. Like one of the worst ideas to flow out of Harrisburg in a long long time.   For those who follow these things, it remains true that Pennsylvania has fared at least relatively well (or how about 'less bad') in the vast foreclosure crisis that hit most everywhere in the nation.  There is not any one explanation for why that is, but one big factor has been that Pennsylvania was remarkably ahead of the curve (how often does that happen?) in policies aimed at foreclosure prevention.  Why that is may all relate to our past economic calamities that forced us to deal with these types of things long before others.   

So one of the key programs that kept Pennsylvania stable was the state's longstanding HEMAP program, which I m just now seeing is being defunded and thus shutting down for the most part.  I am not sure anyone has ever done a cost benefit analsyis of any kind on the program, but this just has to be one of those programs that has a benefit far outweighing the costs. No matter what your political or philosophical bent it's hard to see how this makes sense.  In fact I think it had a sort of omni-political level of support.

It just ... like.... I'm speechless.  Bad. Bad. Bad.

h/t @capitol_ideas for pointing it out.  I have just been distracted or I should have caught this earlier. I see the Inky had some longer coverage earlier in the month.

Ugh.