An extraordinary moment in history
The housing market is reeling. Inventories are at all time highs and demand is very sluggish. Mortgage loans are exploding like land mines and foreclosures are at historic levels and increasing. Foreclosures further increase the housing stock helping to further depress markets. Lenders are shell-shocked and new lending activity is being curtailed as borrowers and properties are ever more closely scrutinized. And yet, homelessness remains with the number of people living without adequate housing at extraordinarily high levels.
There must be an opportunity to work together and alleviate some of these problems. I am not advocating just giving people homes or curtailing foreclosures. However, it seems somehow logical that providing housing to those in need is better than waiting for the market cycles to run their course and provide savvy investors opportunities pick up properties from the desperate or from the lenders. Now is the time for innovative, creative and aggressive action.
I am not advocating government step in and bail out bad deals. Rewarding bad behavior, the moral hazard issue, should be avoided. But if those deals are bad deals anyway, might there be a way to use the housing stock, the financial resources, lenders and government agencies to create rental programs, or rent-to-own programs and keep some homeowners in their homes? It is not easy, but there is an extraordinarily opportunity for social good and even market stabilization that can come of something that is currently a huge problem with no end in sight.
There must be an opportunity to work together and alleviate some of these problems. I am not advocating just giving people homes or curtailing foreclosures. However, it seems somehow logical that providing housing to those in need is better than waiting for the market cycles to run their course and provide savvy investors opportunities pick up properties from the desperate or from the lenders. Now is the time for innovative, creative and aggressive action.
I am not advocating government step in and bail out bad deals. Rewarding bad behavior, the moral hazard issue, should be avoided. But if those deals are bad deals anyway, might there be a way to use the housing stock, the financial resources, lenders and government agencies to create rental programs, or rent-to-own programs and keep some homeowners in their homes? It is not easy, but there is an extraordinarily opportunity for social good and even market stabilization that can come of something that is currently a huge problem with no end in sight.
This is an extraordinary moment in history. Let's not squander it.
David Levin
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