Did You Miss These? (October 4 Edition)
October 4th, 2008 by Keith Forest
A recap of this week’s equity news
“Low-Income Borrowers Blamed in Bailout Crisis,” - Washington Independent
Did poor and minority borrowers cause the housing crisis?
That seemed to be the consensus from the fight over the failed $700 billion bailout bill. As Congress and the Treasury Dept. debated how to fix the mortgage mess, the battle over what caused it took hold.
A prime suspect soon emerged: The government forced banks, lenders and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to make loans in poor neighborhoods to meet affordable housing goals and regulations. The loans went bad, setting off the market meltdown.
“Police official says city should limit low-income housing,” - Wisconsin State Journal
A top Madison Police Department official says the city should reduce or freeze building low-income housing because the tenants are overwhelming police services.
In addition, Jay Lengfeld, captain of the West District, wrote an e-mail to Madison Alderman Thuy Pham-Remmele, 20th District, on Monday in which he suggested the city should license landlords to “weed out the bad ones” and give landlords more leeway to reject applicants with a history of bad behavior.
“How Can We Reduce the Rising Number of American Families Living in Poverty?,” - Brookings Report
The Census Bureau recently released the official numbers on income and poverty last year (2007) in the United States. Let me underscore a few of the key facts that these data illustrate.
First, poverty did not fall to any appreciable extent during the economic expansion of the 2000s. This is quite unusual. Figure 1 shows the poverty rate and the unemployment rate. In past decades, these two indicators have moved together. When unemployment fell in the 1980s expansion, so did poverty. Unemployment and poverty both fell rapidly in the strong expansion of the 1990s. But when unemployment fell after 2003, poverty remained essentially flat.
Tags: , , affordable housing, bailout bill, banks, Brookings institute, Census Bureau, congress, families, fannie mae, freddie mac, housing, low income, poor, poor neighborhoods, poverty, public housing, treasury department, unemployment