Nandinee Kutty
The Continued Importance of Fair Lending in the Age of Obama
Housing discrimination continues to plague the market, as does the myth that the housing crisis resulted from extending homeownership and home mortgage credit to historically underserved groups: minority families. Even with the Obama administration's Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan and, within that, the Making Home Affordable program, minority groups continue to suffer ongoing discrimination and fair housing violations.
Jack Kemp: Stalwart of the Party of Lincoln
Jack Kemp will be remembered for his many roles in public life — as the quarterback for the Buffalo Bills, as U.S. Congressman (from...
Obama Budget: The Beginning of Meaningful Tax Reform
The Obama Budget represents the beginning of a meaningful reform of the U.S. tax code, a reform that is long overdue. In an...
The Obama Housing Plan: Bold and Sensible, But Gaps Remain
There is much that is praiseworthy about the President Obama’s Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan. It is an intelligent plan that recognizes the seriousness...
A Stimulus Package We Can Believe In
Author and columnist Tom Friedman described the nation’s current predicament as when Roy Scheider’s character from Jaws gets his first glimpse at the...
Rationale for Obama’s Tax Policy
On the campaign trail, Barack Obama was asked a question about his increasing taxes for those making more than a quarter million a year....
A Victory for American Democracy
Americans all over the nation, political pundits, Wall Street workers, and, I venture to guess, even the president, were stunned Monday afternoon to hear...
Shiller’s “Continuous-Workout Mortgages” Won’t Address the Crux of the Problem
Robert Shiller in an article in The New York Times
proposed a more flexible home mortgage that he argues would help prevent crises...
Administration Claims Homelessness has Dropped Dramatically. Really?
On July 29, 2008, the White House issued a statement that “chronic homelessness decreased an average of 15 percent per year between 2005 –...
The FHA Refinancing Option for Troubled Loans—Doing it Right
Now that the American Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act has been signed by the president, let us examine one of its key provisions....
Fan & Fred Bill: The Catalyst For a Better Housing Market?
The American Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008: approved by the Senate on Saturday should appropriately be called the “Fannie Mae and...
Who Dun It in the “American Murder Mystery?”
The Atlantic story on crime in Memphis (Tenn.) and Louisville (Ky.) by Hanna Rosin and her identifying “one of the most celebrated antipoverty programs...
Inclusive Growth, Identity, Poverty-Alleviation, and Freedom
I am writing from India, where last week a small but significant convening took place. Some 250 experts (business leaders, academics, and other thinkers)...
Obama’s Urban Policy Team: What We Should Expect
Michael Davis, a Dallas city planner, has been named to Barack Obama’s Urban Policy Committee.
Barack Obama, if elected, plans to create a White...
Making Fair Housing a Reality
The National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) is having its National Policy Conference in Washington, D.C., from June 8 to 11. This conference will shed...
Housing Instability and Children’s Schooling
The crisis of affordable housing, both rental and ownership, is causing families to move frequently as they find it difficult to make monthly housing...
“Nation’s Poorest 1% Now Controls …..
Two-Thirds Of U.S. Soda Can Wealth,” so reads a headline from the latest issue of The Onion, my favorite source of political commentary. The...
Make Lemonade from the Current Housing Crisis
When life serves you lemons, make lemonade. That seems to be the adage the Prince William County authorities are following with regard to the...
Can the Senate Sway Bush on a Foreclosure Rescue Plan?
As of this writing, the Senate Banking Committee seems to be nearing a consensus on its housing rescue plan aimed at preventing foreclosures on...