The Obama administration will prove that they have a plan to do something about the housing crisis by holding a housing conference next week, in DC. The event, called the "Conference on the Future of Housing Finance," has been organized by the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Treasury Department. Panelists include... well, a bunch of economists, finance industry representatives, bank officials, think tankers, and an academic or two. Not included: Any actual consumer advocates or community group representatives.
We've got PIMCO, Wells Fargo, the goddamn American Enterprise Institute, the MacArthur Foundation, Moody's, and Bank of America. But:
"Apparently being a community organizer qualifies you to be president, but it's not good enough to be part of HUD and Treasury's think tank on housing," said [National Community Reinvestment Coalition] chief executive John Taylor, whose group works with hundreds of community organizations to promote access to financial services for low- and middle-income people.
The fact that the Obama administration is assembling a bunch of credentialed but cloistered experts to solve the housing crisis without input from people actually on the ground with those affected by the housing crisis is, sadly, not that surprising.
Why is not surprising? Because the HUD Secretary has qualifications barely more impressive than Education Secretary Arne Duncan. Well, not really. He's got a master's in architecture, and he worked for HUD in the Clinton administration, so he actually has some relevant experience. But just like Arne, he's presided over a big-city neo-liberal public/private disaster under New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, "Which should've immediately disqualified him," Pareene noted, going on to explain:
The Bloomberg administration has a wretched and largely ignored history of promising affordable housing and never delivering. (Not to mention the worst failure of the Bloomberg era: homelessness. It was at historically high levels even before the great financial crisis and no serious attempts at ameliorating it ever developed.)
The Bloomberg housing plan was to give land to private developers, for pennies, in exchange for the promise to build affordable housing for middle and low-income families, and then just not do anything, at all, when the developers simply ignored their promises and built nothing but luxury units. This happened on the Williamsburg waterfront, and it's happening right now near my neighborhood at the Atlantic Yards. Those developments are the norm, not exceptions. Shaun Williams never should've been appointed to run housing policy for the entire nation.
The link there goes to a Daily News article from a year ago Friday:
The Bloomberg administration never checked to see if developers who got discounted city land in exchange for building affordable housing kept their end of the deal, the Daily News has learned.
The Cornerstone Program was supposed to transfer vacant city-owned land to private developers who promised to build 2,191 homes there, with 1,510 units designated for low-or middle-income New Yorkers.
Yet the Department of Housing Preservation and Development has not followed up to see whether developers complied with those terms, an audit obtained by The News found.
A House Appropriations Subcommittee hearing featuring two low-profile cabinet members won't make a splash even on a slow-news day, and certainly not when a juicy story like the AIG outrage has so many angles to explore.
But take my word for it: big news came out of yesterday's Congressional testimony by Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan and Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary Ray LaHood. The cabinet secretaries announced
a new partnership to help American families gain better access to affordable housing, more transportation options, and lower transportation costs. The average working American family spends nearly 60 percent of its budget on housing and transportation costs, making these two areas the largest expenses for American families. Donovan and LaHood want to seek ways to cut these costs by focusing their efforts on creating affordable, sustainable communities.
I explain why this is important and welcome news after the jump.
by Zach Carter, Media Consortium MediaWire Blogger
Last week's passage of the economic stimulus bill marked the first major win for progressives on economic policy under President Barack Obama, but the hardest economic battles have yet to come. The fight against entrenched corporate interests and a global order that ignores the needy will likely be as long and arduous as the recession itself.
The basic problem with respect to the government's role in the economy is systemic corruption, not lack of regulation. This is tolerated by both Democrats and Republicans.
Catherine Austin Fitts (solari.com) suffered through 18 audits and investigations, and 12 pieces of litigation over 13 years, and came through clean as whistle. Her software, which would have shown the fraud and abuse of Federal dollars on a community by community basis, was essentially stolen by the Department of Justice.
Presidential hopeful Chris Dodd, Chairman of Banking, Housing & Urban Affairs Committee, is making the remarkable move of closing down a Federal program that has historically helped hundreds of thousands of disadvantaged groups and the poor achieve first time homeownership.
Dodd is siding with Senate Republicans (like Senator Richard Shelby, R-AL no less) to give a slap in the face to minorities across the country. Dodd is supporting Bush's HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson in his move to eliminate downpayment assistance programs. According to the GAO, the move to get rid of downpayment assistance programs will bar approximately 40% of African-American homebuyers from utilizing Federal Housing Administration insured loans. Also affected are potentially 30% of Latinos.
While I appreciate the work Senator Dodd has done in regards to working to restore habeas corpus rights and stopping telecom companies from having complete amnesty for their crimes...right needs to be told he will lose all effective support he has from the blogosphere if this program is shut down! What Senator Dodd is doing will screw the poor, minorities, and many single parent mothers from ever owning a home. True progressives Rep. Maxine Waters and Rep. Barney Frank have showed their leadership in securing a bill in the House to protect this program. In the Senate, Senator Dodd holds the keys. Sign this petition (http://www.gopetitio... tml) and call Senator Dodd now. For more information on this issue, see below.
In 2006, HUD Secretary Alfonso Jackson was caught admitting in a speech that he openly steered contracts to Republicans, and was placed under investigation. Today, Edward Pound of National Journal reported that the scandal has deepened, and that Jackson might have lied to Congress about his meddling in HUD contracts.
At the time, though, reporters like Charles Babington were scoffing at bloggers for caring about corruption. Here's Babington, in a chat with readers dismissing the scandal as the huffing and puffing of liberal naifs.
Pittsford, N.Y.: The left-wing of the blogosphere is expressing outrage over the news that HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson won't give contracts to those who say they oppose the president. Aren't they being a bit naive? Hasn't politics always worked that way (at least since Andrew Jackson instituted the "spoils system)? I'm a bit surprised that anyone could be that Pollyannaish about the ways of the world and Washington. What do you think about this?
Charles Babington: I think people operating in Washington generally are more discreet. You'd think that someone who just landed a big federal contract would keep to himself the thought that, By the way, I hate your president.... And you'd think an administration official might handle it by saying, You should have enough discretion and courtesy to utter such thoughts somewhere other than my office.
Rarely is there such a clear and cynical statement from a reporter about the norms of the Village. Later in the chat, a reader filled in Babington.
Virginia: Alfonso Jackson has now changed his story - via his spokesperson:
"He was merely trying to explain to the audience how people in D.C., will say critical things about the secretary, will unfairly characterize the president and then turn around and ask you for money," Tucker said. "He did not actually meet with someone and turn down a contract. He's not part of the contracting process."
I guess it was all a misunderstanding ...
Charles Babington: Thanks for the update.
Jackson is now being investigated by the FBI for lying about being part of the contracting process. Who's being naive, Charles?
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