>>>Bankers beat to a pulp by welfare queens?<<<
The Clinton thrust is irrefutable. I am not able to state its magnitude or extent. Home ownership rose dramatically under Clinton. Several sources below.
From Alex Pollock at the AEI 3/12/08
In 1994, the “National Homeownership Strategy” of the Clinton administration advocated “financing strategies, fueled by creativity…to help homebuyers who lack the cash to buy a home or the income to make the payments” buy a home nonetheless. A good deal of creativity was indeed applied and such strategies succeeded, albeit, as is now apparent, with quite different results than expected.
aei.org
From Candace Cadadena: Using the Public, Private, and Non-Profit Resources to Create Affordable Homeownership Opportunities: A Case Study 9/06
Homeownership Trends
The latter half of the 1990’s saw a steady increase in ownership rates nationally, among all racial and ethnic groups, and among all geographic areas (Herbert & Kaul, 2005). The national rate rose from 64 percent in 1994 to 66.8 percent in 1999 (Eggers, 2001). This increase derived importantly from an increase in homeownership among low-income and minority communities. From 1994 to 1999, 40 percent of new homeowners were minorities, who accounted for 24 percent of the general population (Eggers, 2001). For Blacks, Latinos, and Whites, homeownership rates increased by 4.6, 5.2, and 3.7 percentage points respectively. While this represented a five percent gain for Whites (from 74 percent to 77 percent), Black and Latino rates increased by 11 percent (from 41.8 percent to 46.4 percent) and 13 percent (from 40 percent to 45.2 percent) (Gabriel, 2001).
Public policy played a significant role. Congress set higher goals for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to serve more low-income borrowers and low-income areas and created the HOME program. The Clinton administration strengthened enforcement of the Community Reinvestment Act and the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, cutting down on housing discrimination afflicting underserved communities. Finally, revitalization of the Federal Housing Administration led to increased lending to minorities and other traditionally underserved groups, while homeownership education qualified more borrowers for mortgages (Eggers, 2001; Retsinas & Belsky, 2002; U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 2000).
The private sector responded to the federal push, creating new loan products with more flexible lending criteria, such as zero downpayment, allowing more buyers to qualify. Lenders extended outreach efforts, attracting new categories of buyers and opening up new urban markets (Retsinas & Belsky, 2002). Additionally, mortgage underwriting innovations lowered the costs of borrowing, making mortgages more accessible to the buyer on the margin (Carasso, Bell, Olsen, & Steuerle, 2005).
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