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Its been a pretty big focus since at least the Reagan era, actually. As the post-WWII boom came to an end, many past presidents viewed home ownership as the pri
by spicyusername 4y ago
Its been a pretty big focus since at least the Reagan era, actually. As the post-WWII boom came to an end, many past presidents viewed home ownership as the primary pathway to being "middle-class" and made it a focus.
Bill Clinton, in particular, made increasing home-ownership a primary objective of his presidency [1].
Unfortunately, many of the Clinton-era policies, however well intentioned, ended up making homes less affordable due to greatly increasing demand for homes (by making it easier for more people to get mortgages), without increasing housing supply.
1: http://www.4president.org/issues/clinton1996/clinton1996housing.htm http://www.4president.org/issues/clinton1996/clinton1996hous...
- sidewndr46 4y agoSure, as have many other presidents. But what policy changes actually lead to an increase in home affordability?
- spicyusername 4y agoSkimming the FRED data [1], we've had lots of ups and downs since the 60's, but are basically flat since 1980. It does look like Clinton's policies had an effect, but mostly to cause a small boom / bust cycle. The entire graph only takes place between 63% and 69%, so not that big of a change. The Clinton-era policies did seem reverse the trend in the 80s, so that's something. Hard to say if post-pandemic inflation will disrupt that though. 1: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/RHORUSQ156N https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/RHORUSQ156N
- sidewndr46 4y agoThat chart says "The homeownership rate is the proportion of households that is owner-occupied." Affordability does not mean "owner occupied". People who mortgage 99% of the value of a home count under that category. Having a mortgage that will take you the rest of your adult life to payoff is not affordable under any real use of the word.