Affordable housing

A lapse in rental-assistance funding, an understaffed FHA and other effects of the government shutdown are causing real harm to families, said the chair of the House Financial Services Committee.

The House Financial Services Committee held a hearing to examine the outgoing committee chairman's bipartisan GSE reform bill, but lawmakers were already looking ahead.

The current deputy secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Pam Patenaude, will step down in January.

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The Democrat, who will likely head the Financial Services Committee, has signaled she'll make expanded housing opportunities for lower-income consumers a top priority.

The Federal Housing Administration's risk-sharing program with the Federal Financing Bank began as a temporary fix, but the agency is exploring how to make it more permanent.

The end of one-party rule in Washington could move the needle on efforts to devise a new housing finance framework.

The presumptive chair of the Financial Services Committee resumed her tough criticism of the administration, but also committed to "hearing a range of views" if handed the gavel.

Real estate and mortgage industry groups outspent proponents 3-to-1 to defeat Proposition 10, a measure to allow California municipalities to set local rent control laws.

The presumptive chair of the House Financial Services Committee will likely take the panel in a sharply new direction and have a new bully pulpit to criticize the Trump administration.

A deal between TD Bank and a Vermont nonprofit is just one example of how banks are getting creative in addressing affordable housing needs while reaping financial and regulatory benefits.

Despite recriminations about how the crisis and ensuing regulations have tightened loan access, an actual assessment of mortgage credit availability finds the situation is more complicated.

There are ways to fix vacant housing. So why can't we manage to do it?

Donald Layton, who has run the mortgage giant since 2012, discussed the busy agenda leading up to his departure and says Freddie can serve as a "technical adviser" in GSE reform talks.

Can community land trusts and Community Reinvestment Act reform fuel investment to stop urban blight?

Proposition 10 would give local jurisdictions a freer hand to restrict rents, but critics say that would lead to property devaluations. Some see an effect regardless of whether the measure passes.

The crisis in affordable housing has its roots in the high cost of building entry-level single-family homes. But why does it cost so much to build a house? And what did previous generations do to build affordable housing?

Small towns across the country struggle with vacant housing as much as cities, even though some of those places have plenty of jobs. Geography and a declining population are forcing many rural communities to make hard choices.

Analysts say the proposal will hurt more than help, and while it isn't expected to gain traction soon, that could change if Democrats retake the Senate.

After blue collar jobs move out, crime often rushes in to take its place. That makes efforts to turn around housing that much harder.