A Phil Hall Op-Ed: Earlier this morning, the Biden administration issued a lengthy statement under the heading “White House Announces New Actions on Homeownership.” This was something peculiar, considering the White House has barely issued any actions on homeownership since Joe Biden shuffled into its residency.
“The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to expanding access to homeownership, ensuring homeowners can afford to stay in their homes and make the repairs they need, and that the wealth building potential of homeownership works equally for everyone,” the statement insisted, highlighting a “proposed $16 billion for the Neighborhood Homes Tax Credit, which would result in more than 400,000 homes built or rehabilitated, creating a pathway for more families to buy a home and start building wealth.”
The White House also said the president “proposed a $10 billion down payment assistance program that would ensure first-time homebuyers whose parents do not own a home can access homeownership alongside a $100 million down payment assistance pilot to expand homeownership opportunities for first-generation and/or low wealth first-time homebuyers.”
Furthermore, the White House observed that the “Federal Housing Administration’s (FHA) first-time homebuyer rate under the Biden-Harris Administration is the highest it has been since at least 2000” while the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) 7,100 direct housing loans in the past fiscal year “is the highest number of loans since 2010.”
Buried in these self-congratulatory accolades was an inconvenient fact: the White House sneaked in a very brief admission about “the lack of homes on the market and current interest rates,” but rather than take responsibility for those problems it passed the buck and claimed that “to truly ensure homeownership is accessible to all households, we need Congress to act.”
This new declaration on housing is eerily familiar to the White House’s declaration on the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan – the White House stubbornly stated that action was a rousing success when it was clearly quite the opposite. The notion that this administration is “committed to expanding access to homeownership” is contradicted by Biden-appointed regulators who seem to be doing everything in their power to ensure people cannot obtain and retain their own homes.
The release of the White House statement coincides with the opening of the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) 2023 Annual Convention & Expo. MBA President and CEO Bob Broeksmit did not toss air kisses at the administration in his opening speech, informing the mortgage industry attendees that “Washington, D.C. is fighting against you. At a time when you and your customers need relief, you’re at risk of being hit with the most extreme overregulation. At a time when you desperately need stability, your own government is sowing the seeds of profound instability. Honestly, Washington is pushing you and our economy in the wrong direction. And no one will suffer more than American families – especially minority, low-income, and first-time homebuyers. This madness must stop before it’s too late.”
At no point in his presidency has Biden made a single speech related to homeownership, nor have his handlers allowed him to answer any questions about mortgage rates nearing 8%, mortgage application activity plummeting to 1990s levels and foreclosure filings slowly rising. If we had a normal housing market, the FHA and USDA would not be setting lending records.
And the multi-billion-dollar proposals are meaningless in an economy pockmarked by the wretched impact of Bidenomics. Even worse, the administration fails to think anything out properly – its half-assed proposals advocate for artificially inflating homeownership quantity without pausing to worry about the financial wherewithal of the people being shoehorned into homes they cannot afford to buy or maintain. I guess Biden’s gang forgot the lessons of 2008.
Maybe it would have been better if the White House didn’t bother to volunteer this statement. After all, you know the old cliché attributed to one of Biden’s predecessors: Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt.
Phil Hall is editor at Weekly Real Estate News. He can be reached at [email protected].
Photo by Gage Skidmore / Flickr Creative Commons
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Those least qualified to own a home are least likely to continue to service the mortgage and maintain a home. The middle class is the back bone of the economy. They represent the largest buying segment and have the largest impact on the economy as a whole. It makes sense to tailor your programs to this segment.
Let’s not forget, treasury has a 79.9% equity in GSEs fannie and Freddie. Profits were swept during Obama and over $100 billion was spent on pet projects like Obamacare and NOT housing. The profit sweep was stopped by mark Calabrian and former tres sec Mnuchin to allow GSEs to build capitol, Which they are. In the meantime, yellen has been quieter than a church mouse on housing and can’t pull herself away from advocating the admins green energy / global warming agenda traveling around the globe. There are valid proposals to allow entities to exit government conservatorship and some 60-100 billion could be used towards housing initiatives in the U.S. but alas, as you rightly point out, this admin is fighting good policy on housing much like it’s fight on oil.
It’s just another scam to try to buy votes. Stop inflation. Stop printing money. Stop tanking the economy to make people more dependent on government. All of this is on the back of the working class.
Thank you for a well written and informative piece! N
Good morning Phil, thank you that’s a great article
However, there is one additional piece-the DOJ lawsuit involving NAR, which has paved the way for several 6-7 figure similar class-action suits, will also have a profound effect on the market. With 2 major players already making deals and concessions, the impact will most affect low and middle income home buyers and make home it even more difficult to achieve.