Housing

While there is little to celebrate in the current foreclosure disaster, one potential silver lining in the large number of bank-owned properties is the opportunity to turn those properties into community assets. A May 2008 conference hosted by the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy at New York University and sponsored by the Ford Foundation brought together policy experts and practitioners to share best practices for “Transforming Foreclosed Properties into Community Assets.” Most of the discussion focused on what can be done by partners… more

On Saturday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) unveiled a plan for helping homeowners to hang on to their homes--and hang on to the value of their homes. It’s a great idea, because it targets economic relief to the middle class in the Heartland, not the upper class in Manhattan and Beverly Hills. It’s a shame, though, that McConnell and the Republicans waited until after the 2008 elections, because this plan was available back in September, when the fiscal meltdown began. With a different response to the… more

As foreclosure rates continue to reach record highs here in the Washington region and across the country and the global economy reels, many Americans have begun to question whether expanding homeownership is a wise strategy. While there is plenty of blame to go around for this mess, the goal of expanding homeownership is still an important one and should not be sacrificed.

Seven hundred billion dollars to bail out the banking and financial industries is a lot of money. But let's not forget where this crisis started: in a failing housing market, the initial domino in the meltdown. The banks are being bailed out - but what about housing?

Too many people today are spending too much of their income on keeping a roof over their heads. Nearly half of Americans are "rent burdened," spending more than 30% of their income on housing. Whether it is… more

...Jacob Hacker, a political scientist at the University of California Berkeley and author of “The Great Risk Shift,” said Democratic leaders have been frustrated by several factors since taking the majority of the House and Senate after the 2006 elections: comparatively thin majorities, especially in the Senate; their insistence on adhering to pay-as-you-go budget rules that often require tax increases to support any substantial new spending; and the fact that relief bills such as the housing measure are limited in scope and largely throw money at a problem,… more

On June 25, 2008, the New America Foundation brought together Leo Hindery, Managing Director at InterMedia Partners and former senior economic advisor to the John Edwards Campaign, and Tom Gallagher, Senior Managing Director at International Strategy and Investment Group, to discuss the causes behind skyrocketing oil prices and their implications for American middle-class families. An MP3 audio recording can be downloaded below, while video is available at right. Hindery began by laying out research pointing to speculative investment as… more

The U.S. economy has been gripped by a relentless housing crisis for almost two years. A key driver in this crisis has been the many subprime mortgages that involved high rates and fees -- often requiring no down payments -- that were made in the past several years. California is ground zero in the subprime crisis and the resultant spillover effects -- foreclosures, bankruptcies, decreasing property values to name a few. Recognizing that relying on the market alone is unlikely… more

While Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain appear anxious to move into the White House, none of them have much to say about housing. Yet rarely a day goes by that the headlines don't mention the current housing crisis and its threat to the financial markets and the economy. This has led to a strange disconnect between the presidential campaigns and national reality.

Subprime lending and the ensuing foreclosures are being blamed for the crisis, but the problems and blame… more

With foreclosures reaching record levels and predictions for further trouble ahead, the Federal Reserve Board on Tuesday unanimously approved potentially sweeping changes to how mortgages are marketed, made, and serviced, especially in the nonprime market. Will the Fed be able to meet its goal of a "comprehensive set of protections to consumers" when the comments come flying?

The proposed revisions to regulations under the Truth in Lending Act are designed to realign relationships in the mortgage business, so borrower and lender… more