Subject: Housing

  • No Road Home for New Orleans Minorities?

    Two fair housing organizations are alleging that HUD’s Road Home program valued homes in white neighborhoods in New Orleans higher than similar homes in minority neighborhoods. From yesterday’s press release: Civil rights and fair housing groups filed a federal lawsuit…

  • Not Your Clinton’s Foreclosure Holiday

    First the gas tax holiday, then the Columbus Day holiday, now again with the foreclosure holiday. Everyone should be wary of “holidays” in taxation or government function largely because it (if not directly) gives the perception of putting off a…

  • Scapegoating Blacks for the Economic Crisis

    A simple, yet likely powerful, explanation has now been offered for the subprime mortgage-lending and foreclosure problems that have fed the nation’s gravest economic crisis since the Depression. Its simplicity makes one wonder why it took so long to surface:…

  • House Passes Bailout: Let The Market Soar!

    Amid all of the gloom and doom, perhaps a few positive headlines will help to boost the mood of the nation’s sagging economy. If anything, the Bush-Paulson plan to create a $700 billion Wall Street rescue package “sending the biggest…

  • How to Fix the Mortgage Mess 101

    Here’s the problem with the nation’s troubled financial system in a nutshell: Americans don’t have enough money to pay their mortgages. President Bush’s plan to bail-out the banks by having the US government buy troubled mortgage-backed securities is the wrong…

  • Is It Just a Foreclosure Holiday?

    Following the United States Treasury Department’s move this week to take control of mortgage investors Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, a handful of U.S. senators Thursday showed support for a moratorium on foreclosures for loans within the two companies’ portfolios.…

  • What Do You Make of the Fannie/Freddie Takeover?

    The markets responded well on Monday following Sunday’s announcement of Treasury’s takeover of mortgage investors Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, signaling some optimism about the long-troubled agencies. But then Tuesday the Dow quickly lost most of those gains amid resurgent…

  • Fannie and Freddie Violate New York’s Public Trust

    Under ordinary circumstances, Sept. 1—Labor Day—would be a day of celebration and pride. Not only does it commemorate the sacrifice of working families, but, quite fittingly, it’s the date on which a new landmark responsible lending law will go into…

  • Abolishing HUD, Simplistic Solution to Complex Problems

    A call to eliminate HUD will easily attract many right-wing politicos, and apparently others as well—and it is appealing. That said, while all of us can point to various examples of incompetence, ineffeciency, and corruption at HUD, if the agency…

  • Fan & Fred Bill: The Catalyst For a Better Housing Market?

    The American Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008: approved by the Senate on Saturday should appropriately be called the “Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Rescue Bill” because that is what the bill focuses on. It allows the Treasury…