Change is coming to the most important government agency that most Americans never heard of. For many months, a broad coalition of housing, consumer protection, and civil rights groups has been calling on President Obama to replace the acting head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency or FHFA, the body that oversees the mortgage giants [...]
Read Post
April is fair housing month and, this year, it’s also the 45th anniversary of the passage of the Fair Housing Act. Adopted in the wake of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the Fair Housing Act transformed the legal rights that all Americans have to rent and own homes in communities across the [...]
Read Post
Home Opportunity is at a crossroads, and with it the American economy. Misconduct by banks, inadequate rules, and lax enforcement have cost 4 million families their homes since the financial crisis began, devastated communities around the country, and triggered a deep recession that we are still digging our way out of. A clear-eyed assessment of [...]
Read Post
For months I’ve been part of a chorus of voices calling on the presidential candidates to talk about home opportunity. Their virtual silence on addressing foreclosures, restoring devastated communities, ensuring fair housing and lending, and resurrecting the American Dream has been both outrageous and baffling.
Read Post
Last week, a coalition of housing, civil rights, and consumer protection groups issued an open letter to President Obama and Governor Romney asking what they would do, specifically, to address the housing crisis in America, and seeking a meeting to share best practices from around the country. Readers can add their voices to this request by joining the Home for Good campaign.
Read Post
Now that the presidential tickets are set, it’s time for the candidates to get specific about problems and solutions critical to our economic recovery and future prosperity. Along with job creation, they should start with Home Opportunity—the cluster of housing, homeownership, and fair lending issues that are so central to the American promise of opportunity for all.
Read Post
Even Olympians are, alas, not immune from America’s homeownership crisis. The Associated Press reported this week that the parents of U.S.
Read Post
Dramatic developments this month have underscored our nation’s progress, as well as our continuing peril, when it comes to Home Opportunity—the deeply held American ideal that everyone should have access to an affordable home under fair conditions. These developments, both positive and negative, should inform the national choices ahead, including in the presidential race.
Read Post
The ink’s barely dry on the historic settlement of “robo-signing” and other abusive foreclosure practices by five big banks.
Read Post
One by one, the excuses have fallen. Yet Edward DeMarco, acting head of FHFA, the agency that runs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, still fails to offer the most effective relief available to American homeowners struggling with mortgages held by those entities.
Read Post
