Industry Leaders Report on Housing Policies

WASHINGTON, DC-A group of housing and housing-finance industry leaders have issued a report, Housing Policy for the 21st Century, outlining the issues the industry is currently facing and will face in the decades to come. During a teleconference, representatives of five groups–Ed Yingling of the American Bankers Association, Robert Davis of America’s Community Bankers, the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Jonathan Kempner, the National Association of Home Builders’ Jerry Howard, and David Lereah of the National Association of Realtors–discussed in detail a bevy of pertinent topics, including the importance of the government’s role in housing, and the dearth of affordable housing.

The speakers reiterated a piece of vital information noted in the report: the fact that housing plays a vital role in the national economy and that, currently, it accounts for 16% of the Gross Domestic Product. The positive effects of housing development reach the local level as well, with development of 100 multifamily homes generating an average of $28 million in local income over a 10-year period. But, that is the good news. “The job isn’t finished,” Jerry Howard of the National Association of Home Builders says during the conference call. “We have to make sure policy makers are aware of that.” He noted, as an example of current problems, the fact that so many people in the workforce, notably teachers and firefighters, are unable to buy or rent in their communities due to prices or a lack available quality offerings.