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Greedy bankers, brokers, and investors abused their political power and forced millions of Americans to lose their homes. Now what can we do to solve the crisis?

A significant reduction in attention paid to home mortgage lending on CRA exams would be neither economically efficient nor equitable.

[Editor's note: while we fix some technical difficulties and remodel our websites, content originally intended to run on Shelterforce online will run here, on the Rooflines blog. This article is […]

Language barriers pose an obstacle to fair access to credit, but this population is overlooked in fair credit discussions.

The Obama administration announced February 18 its Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan that aims to offer assistance to as many as 9 million homeowners making a “good-faith effort to stay […]

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.

The discourse around proposed changes to the federal tax system, especially between talk show pundits and economists and politicians—each with their own allegiances—is devoid of some simple, transparent facts. A […]

Of all the things government can and should do about housing, creating a strong, responsive mortgage market may be more important for the future of American families, neighborhoods and cities […]

Book Review: Subprime Mortgages: America’s Latest Boom and Bust, by Edward M. Gramlich.
Urban Institute Press, 2007, 120 pp. $25.00 (hardcover).

While immediate steps are necessary to stem foreclosures, a comprehensive solution requires a broader brush.

Laid off after 29 years of working for a local telephone company in North Carolina, “Roberta Green” was struggling. Although she had a part-time job driving a school bus, she […]

The functions of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — liquidity, stability, and access — remain important for the housing economy. Indeed, the two companies today are providing more than 70 percent of all the financing for housing even while under conservatorship. But their collapse into the federal government’s arms is causing a wholesale reevaluation of how best to provide those functions in the future.