Publication Date
September 2014Author(s)
Janneke RatcliffeJanneke Ratcliffe reflects on comments made at the Bipartisan Housing Council’s 2014 Housing Summit, “Housing America’s Future: New Directions for National Policy.” Ratcliffe’s panel focused on why creditworthy Americans find it so difficult to obtain a mortgage.
Policymakers have focused on a single, national homeownership rate metric as a goal in itself, rather than using it as a diagnostic to measure progress on closing gaps and broadening the benefits of homeownership for more people, says center Executive Director Janneke Ratcliffe.
The nation needs to expand homeownership to ensure a robust economic future and has the tools to do it, she continues, but the will to do so is lacking.
Ratcliffe explains why expanding homeownership should be the guiding force to housing finance reform.