By Bill Kelly

January 20, 2012

What should the federal government do to address the inventory of foreclosed properties?

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This is no ordinary single family market, and in most jurisdictions we will not reach price or community stability without active engagement by current and by once and future homeowners--with counseling support.

With perhaps 2.5 million homes that have already been foreclosed, but 4.5 million more in serious default and perhaps 10 million underwater, dealing with already foreclosed homes without stemming the flow from the pipeline will stabilize neither prices nor communities. Clearly, the best solution where possible is to keep homeowners in their home through loan modifications. That will require much greater use of principal reductions, often with shared appreciation mortgages.

By Bill Kelly

March 31, 2012

How can housing policy be responsive to today’s urgent needs (e.g., foreclosures, a sluggish housing market, affordability, etc.) and simultaneously address long-term trends (e.g., an aging population, growth of younger households)?

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Treating this as a question about where the commission should devote its energy and resources, I recommend that it focus not on the immediate issues but on longer term issues, including demographic drivers and their consequences for housing demand and public support. At the same time, the commission's bipartisan composition creates a rare opportunity not just to study the very long-term, but to develop recommendations on which Congress, the administration, and the other key players can begin to act in the next few years. Many aspects of our current system are bent or broken and this is a unique opportunity to design solutions.

By Bill Kelly

July 5, 2012

What are the best options for the millions of single-family homes that may be left behind by Baby Boomers as they age, many of which are in suburban or exurban communities? Is it realistic to retrofit homes and neighborhoods to accommodate changing demand?

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Even though we have begun to see a shift in preferences from large lot suburban and exurban single family homes to denser housing closer in, the effect on housing occupied by Baby Boomers is likely to be muted for a decade or more in most markets.

The latest State of the Nation's Housing report from Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies notes that homeownership remains very high for Baby Boomers, 78.5 percent for those between 55 and 65. Just 1.9 percent of owner-occupants aged 65–74 in 2011 had changed residences within the previous year, down from about 3.3 percent in 2007.