Affordable housing

St. John's Lutheran Church in Madison is redeveloping its property to build affordable housing blocks from the Capitol in the booming East Washington corridor.

The April and May announcements from the U.S. government, down payment assistance firms and lenders on easing the homeownership affordability crunch.

The rates of single parent homeownership by gender differ by 14 percentage points, even though more single women own homes than men.

Top Federal Home Loan bank officials said they fear the Federal Housing Finance Agency will use supervision to further the goals of last year's report recommending reforms to the Home Loan Bank System.

Banks and other private lenders could help ease the liquidity crisis facing some companies that service Ginnie Mae mortgages, but are currently prevented from doing so by the agency's rules. A simple fix would benefit everyone involved.

In a Senate hearing, Director Sandra Thompson said a raise to the required income threshold provided to affordable housing was on the table, while housing regulators also faced questions related to property insurance hikes and title insurance waivers.

Since the launch of vacant-loan sales, a majority have come from properties located in 10 states, HUD reported.

The questions about whether the Home Loan banks receive a public subsidy has been settled. All that remains is for lawmakers to take steps to redirect that subsidy toward public benefits rather than corporate profits.

Continued failure to bring Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac out of conservatorship will lead to see-saw mortgage policy every time the White House changes hands, which is against the intent of the GSE statutes that indicate a desire for stable secondary markets, writes the Principal at public affairs firm TVDC.

But a part of the proposal getting mixed reviews extends a risk sharing program that provides capital to housing finance agencies for multifamily loans.