How to Avoid Another Housing Crisis
What’s one thing Congress could do to help the economy and American homeowners? Check out our infographic. Read the Morning Bell and more en español… Read More
How to Hide Billions in Taxpayer Money and Get Away With It
Spine-tingling TV shows and movies are always featuring spy capers that are “off-book.” Their existence is on a need-to-know basis, and sure, they’re being funded,… Read More
Heritage Agrees With Schumer on Housing Finance Reform
The whole point of a free-enterprise system is to allow both private gains and losses so that markets don’t end up with shortages and surpluses. Subsidization leads to things like inflated home prices, and inflated markets eventually crash, wreaking havoc on the way down.
HAMP: Focusing on Mortgage Relief Programs Misses the Big Picture
The Washington Post has an article detailing the ups and downs of the Obama Administration’s Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). Heritage previously pointed out several… Read More
Congress to Mega Banks: It Was All Your Fault—Pay No Attention to the GSEs
Last week, Chairman Dave Camp (R–MI) outlined a new reform proposal that included a punitive tax on some of the largest banks in the U.S…. Read More
Pawlenty Joins the Fight to End Fannie and Freddie
Two Financial Services Roundtable executives, former Governor Tim Pawlenty (R–MN) and former Navy Secretary John Dalton, have penned an article that highlights the key points… Read More
How to Free the Housing Market from Government—and Lower Your Mortgage Payments
President Obama said something truly great in his State of the Union Address this year. He told Congress: [S]ince the most important investment many families… Read More
GSE Reform: Fannie and Freddie Revenue Distracting from Housing Finance Reform
Despite what a growing number of voices are postulating, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have not returned to profitability. The two former government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs)… Read More
Will the Federal Housing Finance Agency Forgive Borrowers’ Debts?
Today Representative Mel Watt (D–NC) assumes his position as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), which manages the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae… Read More
VIDEO: Home Is Where Neighbors Help
Ethel Parker had never had a bathroom in her home. She’d walk to the nearest convenience store when she needed to use the restroom, until… Read More
GSE Reform: Housing Finance Experts on the Future of Fannie and Freddie
Nearly five years after one of the largest federal government bailouts in American history and the enactment of a colossal federal regulatory law (Dodd–Frank), policy… Read More
LawNews
Potential Settlement in Supreme Court Housing Discrimination Case
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the parties in the Fair Housing Act case pending before the Supreme Court have reached a tentative settlement… Read More
Federal Housing Administration Is Undermining Responsible Housing Policy
The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) has discrepancies in its loan portfolio that are unlikely to be resolved anytime soon and will continue to pose a… Read More
FHA: The Next Round of Housing Bailouts?
Despite some efforts this year to improve its financial position, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) will reportedly seek a bailout from the federal government to… Read More
New Fannie Bond Issue Elevates Need for Higher G-Fees
As Congress contemplates legislation to end Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government agency running their operations is trying to make that task easier. However,… Read More
Lowering Loan Limits: An Overdue Step to Bringing Private Capital Back to Housing
As legislation moves through Congress to address the fate of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has indicated it will… Read More
Obama: End Fannie and Freddie, but Keep Government in Housing Business
President Obama lent his voice today to the growing consensus in Washington that federally sponsored housing giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac must go. While… Read More
U.S. Mortgage Market Reform: Corker–Warner Bill Misguided
Draft legislation by Senators Bob Corker (R–TN) and Mark Warner (D–VA) would wind down federally sponsored housing finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but… Read More
Another Subprime Idea from Obama
The Obama Administration is reportedly pushing banks to increase mortgage lending to people with relatively weak credit in hopes of boosting home sales. But the… Read More
IMF: Fannie and Freddie Threaten U.S. Fiscal Health
Followers of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have long joked that the fund’s acronym stands for “It’s Mostly Fiscal.” For a long time it has… Read More
DeMarco Signals a Better Housing Policy by Putting Taxpayers First
Ed DeMarco, the acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), got it right by putting taxpayers’ interests ahead of the Obama Administration’s wishes…. Read More
Morning Bell: What if Fannie and Freddie Were Eliminated?
For the past several years, it’s not been an uncommon sight in Anytown, USA, to drive down the street and see home after home for… Read More
Chart of the Week: Nearly Half of All Americans Don’t Pay Income Taxes
This year’s Index of Dependence on Government presented startling findings about the sharp increase of Americans who rely on the federal government for housing, food,… Read More
Morning Bell: Dependence on Government Highest in History
When John F. Kennedy was President, just over a quarter of federal spending went to fund programs paying for some 21.7 million Americans to be… Read More
State of the Housing Market: New Refinancing Promises?
During his State of the Union speech, President Obama introduced a new plan to save responsible homeowner $3,000 a year on their mortgages by refinancing… Read More
Morning Bell: Agenda 21 and the Threat in Your Backyard
Ready to trade in your car for a bike, or maybe a subway instead? Interested in fewer choices for your home, paying more for housing,… Read More
FHFA Sues Banks to Recover Housing Bond Losses: Less Than Meets the Eye?
News reports say that the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) will sue about 12 major banks in order to recover some of the losses that… Read More
Morning Bell: Time to End Fannie and Freddie
Four years after home values in America plummeted, fears over America’s housing market remain. In testimony before Congress yesterday, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke cited… Read More
Lunch with Heritage Online Chat – Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
Heritage expert David John recently wrote a paper titled “End Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to Build Tomorrow’s Housing Finance System” What will ending Fannie… Read More
Fannie and Freddie: The Sky’s the Limit
While most of us were at home waiting for Santa and his reindeer to arrive, a gift arrived for mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie… Read More
