As 2008 draws to a close, over 2 million families have already lost their homes or are facing foreclosure. A protracted homeownership crisis will harm both families and entire communities alike and threatens to weaken an already besieged national economy. Yet as policymakers agree to spend billions of dollars to shock the economy back to life, they seem less committed to searching for an effective policy response to address the foreclosure storm and resurrect a responsible housing finance system.
One policymaker has stood out in the search for creative policy solutions. FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair was kind enough to share her perspective from the front lines of the economic crisis and offer her vision of how to make responsible homeownership work in the future. Chairman Bair has been making a forceful case for a systematic and streamlined approach to loan modifications that will help keep millions of Americans from being displaced by loan defaults and foreclosure. Also featured were Roberto G. Quercia, Michal Grinstein-Weiss, and Janneke Ratcliffe from the Center for Community Capital (CCC) at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, who presented groundbreaking research that provides a roadmap for making responsible homeownership work, even among lower-income families. Funded by the Ford Foundation, this research evaluates the experience of an innovative program of the Self-Help organization in North Carolina and highlights the potential of linking borrowers with safe and appropriate mortgage products.
<< Back to article
