Homeownership Built to Last ― Balancing Access, Affordability, and Risk After the Housing Crisis

The ups and downs in housing markets over the past two decades are without precedent, and the costs ?financial, psychological, and social ?have been enormous. Yet Americans overwhelmingly still aspire to homeownership, and many still view access to homeownership as an important ingredient for building wealth among historically disadvantaged groups.

Eric Belsky, Christopher Herbert, and Jennifer Molinsky have assembled a team of specilaists to reexamine the goals, risks, and rewards of homeownership in the wake of the housing bubble and subprime lending crisis.

Contents

Introduction: Low-Income Homeownership at a Crossroads

Making the Case for Home Ownership as a Policy Goal1. Homeownership, Wealth, and the Production of Racialized Space

2. Is Homeownership Still an Effective Means of Building Wealth for Low-Income and Minority Households? Was It Ever?

3. Reexamining the Social Benefits of Homeownership after the Housing Crisis

Supporting the Home Buying Process4. To Buy or Not to Buy? Understanding Tenure Preferences and the Decisionmaking Processes of Lower-Income Households

5. Developing Effective Subsidy Mechanisms for Low-Income Homeownership

6. Filling the Void Between Homeownership and Rental Housing Balancing Affordability, Access, and Risk

7. Standards, Loan Products, and Performance: What Have We Learned?

8. The Evolving Role of State Housing Finance Agencies

9. Mortgage Default Option Mispricing and Procyclicality

The Government's Role in the Evolving Mortgage Market10. Rethinking Duties to Serve in Housing Finance

11. What Role Has the Government Played in Creating a Dual Mortgage Market in the Past and How Likely Is One to Emerge in the Future?

12. The Role of Mortgage Finance in Financial (In)Stability

Sustaining Homeownership13. Protecting Homeowners, Post-Purchase: Lessons Learned

14. The Home Mortgage Foreclosure Crisis: Lessons Learned

Eric S. Belsky is managing director of the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University and coeditor of several Brookings/JCHS collaborations, including Moving Forward: The Future of Consumer Credit.

Christopher Herbert is the research director at the Joint Center.

Jennifer H. Molinsky is a research associate at the Joint Center.