By Kevin Clang

June 5, 2013

Welcome to the BPC Housing Commission expert forum! This forum is intended to foster interactive and substantive discussion about pressing housing issues. Each month contributors from different parts of the housing sector will be invited to respond to a discussion topic.

Guest posts are shared regularly with Housing Commissioners to help inform their work.

By Eileen Fitzgerald

June 5, 2013

What should the federal government’s role be in helping prepare consumers to make financial decisions? How can the housing industry help lead the way for better consumer knowledge and protection?

View the full forum here.

NeighborWorks America is a strong proponent of housing education and counseling. We believe it has an important role to play in helping prepare consumers to make responsible financial decisions. And, we know that homeownership education and counseling can achieve real impact for new homeowners, as well as for families facing foreclosure. Several recent studies from NeighborWorks America, and others, confirm this. In March 2013, we released an independent evaluation of the NeighborWorks pre-purchase program by researchers Neil Mayer and Ken Temkin using data from the credit report company Experian, which evaluated 75,000 mortgages originated between 2007 and 2009. The study found that borrowers who received homeownership education and counseling from NeighborWorks organizations were one-third less likely to fall 90 days or more behind on their mortgages in the first two years. These results were consistent with a study released in April 2013 by Freddie Mac which showed education and counseling reduced first-time home buyers’ delinquency rate by 28% or more.

By Jonathan Reckford

June 5, 2013

What should the federal government’s role be in helping prepare consumers to make financial decisions? How can the housing industry help lead the way for better consumer knowledge and protection?

View the full forum here.

An important lesson we have learned from the housing crisis of the past several years is that effective and affordable measures can be taken to increase the likelihood of lower-income families becoming successful homeowners. These measures include:

• appropriately priced loan products
• responsive, professional loan servicing
• high-quality preparatory education and counseling provided to first-time homebuyers

By Michael Stubel

May 20, 2013

Throughout the week, the BPC Housing Commission highlights news items that address critical developments in housing policy. Any views expressed in the content posted on this forum do not necessarily represent the views of the Commission, its co-chairs or the Bipartisan Policy Center.

DeMarco: FHLBanks should grow involvement in secondary market
By Christina Mlynski
HousingWire

"As the debate on housing finance reform moves forward, more attention will be paid to the activities of the Federal Home Loan Banks, and how these institutions fit into the future structure of housing finance. While resolving the conservatorships of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is central to the future of the secondary mortgage market, the FHLBanks can be a part of the larger housing reform discussion. Ed DeMarco, current acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, firmly believes such institutions provide secondary mortgage market services to their members such as buying whole loans directly from members and holding them in portfolio." Read more here.