Chasing the American Dream
Chasing the American Dream

Author: William M. Rohe

Publisher: Cornell University Press

Published: 2018-07-05

Total Pages: 326

ISBN-13: 1501731130

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Providing decent, safe, and affordable housing to low- and moderate-income families has been an important public policy goal for more than a century. In recent years there has been a clear shift of emphasis among policymakers from a focus on providing affordable rental units to providing affordable homeownership opportunities. Due in part to programs introduced by the Clinton and Bush administrations, the nation's homeownership rate is currently at an all-time high. Does a house become a home only when it comes with a deed attached? Is participation in the real-estate market a precondition to engaged citizenship or wealth creation? The real estate industry's marketing efforts and government policy initiatives might lead one to believe so. The shift in emphasis from rental subsidies to affordable homeownership opportunities has been justified in many ways. Claims for the benefits of homeownership have been largely accepted without close scrutiny. But is homeownership always beneficial for low-income Americans, or are its benefits undermined by the difficulties caused by unfavorable mortgage terms and by the poor condition or location of the homes bought? Chasing the American Dream provides a critical assessment of affordable homeownership policies and goals. Its contributors represent a variety of disciplinary perspectives and offer a thorough understanding of the economic, social, political, architectural, and cultural effects of homeownership programs, as well as their history. The editors draw together the assessments included in this book to prescribe a plan of action that lays out what must be done to make homeownership policy both effective and equitable.

Homeownership at Any Cost
Homeownership at Any Cost

Author: Andrew Jeffery

Publisher: FT Press

Published: 2011-11-29

Total Pages: 42

ISBN-13: 0132931087

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Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 With its extraordinarily powerful Washington lobbying organization, massive political contributions, and members in every Congressional district, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) has distorted U.S. housing policy for generations. NAR’s efforts have consistently enriched real estate professionals by making home purchasing artificially cheap and easy. In Homeownership at Any Cost, Andrew Jeffery tells this hidden story, shining a light on NAR’s outsized role in designing U.S. housing policies for nearly a century and examining accusations that it played a key role in inflating the housing bubble that nearly destroyed the global financial system. Jeffery recounts the NAR’s absurdly rosy projections about real estate markets in the years running up to the mortgage meltdown, showing how the organization has managed to fly “under the radar” while other market players have been pilloried by the media and policy makers. He concludes by revealing the crucial behind-the-scenes role NAR is playing right now in the debate over remaking U.S. housing policy, its self-serving attempts to rewrite federal mortgage policy to suit its own ends, and its advocacy of a near-complete abdication of the mortgage market to the federal government.