This month, the National Housing Conference, an advocate for affordable housing, sent a letter to the Treasury pointing out what the non-partisan group sees as flaws in the legislation. The group encouraged policymakers to implement guardrails and gather data to prevent abuse. It said it would be “tragic” if higher-priced rentals replaced more affordable units because of the incentives.
“In ’14, what you begin to see is a loosening of the underwriting, but not an irresponsible loosening. I think we’re seeing a return to a more normal market.” – David M. Dworkin
“I believe there is a unique opportunity to improve this important tool to make access to credit and investment fairer while maintaining the safety and soundness of our financial institutions.” – David M. Dworkin
“Housing finance reform remains the single largest unfinished business of the housing crisis. And the single biggest factor standing in the way of that business is getting agreement on how to ensure that the GSEs serve all Americans, not just the wealthy.”
– David M. Dworkin
National Housing Conference CEO David Dworkin says that FHA commissioner Brian Montgomery’s announcement that HUD is “easing” use of the False Claims Act with regard to FHA lenders is actually a good thing. The sampling for mortgage defects to bring the lawsuits had gotten too picky, he says, and the lawsuits brought under the act were being used more to win showy settlements from banks with a lot of assets (who then stopped participating in FHA) rather than going after truly bad actors. Dworkin says a legislative fix would be better, as mortgages outlast administrations, but that this is a step in the right direction of getting more banks back to FHA lending.
“An important first step is allowing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to exit conservatorship as private companies with access to a federal guarantee that is paid for rather than implied. We need to finish the work we began in the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, which made the government rescue of the mortgage market possible. We need to fix what is broken.”
– David M. Dworkin
“That’s how we could end up with a tax bill that cost us a quarter million units of affordable housing over ten years, and have that not be mentioned in the national debate.”
– David M. Dworkin
“While there remain many details to work out, we are pleased to see the proposal would preserve much of the current system that is working while addressing structural flaws that must be addressed, including the need to bring more private capital into the mortgage market.”
– David M. Dworkin
“If the fund isn’t strong enough to lower the premiums now, then [FHA leadership] needs to identify the specific reforms that are needed that will strengthen the fund so that they can be lowered in the future.”
– David M. Dworkin
“The bill corrects the unintended consequences in an extremely complicated rule. When we get into the level of complexity that we have adopted in some of these regulations, things that were intended happen and create problems for organizations like Habitat.”- David M. Dworkin
