The Launch of Urban Institute's Housing Finance Policy Center

Sarah Rosen Wartell, President of the Urban Institute, launched the Institute's new Housing Finance Policy Center. The Center will elevate the discussion of the housing finance system and its relationship to the economy, capital markets, housing markets and neighborhoods, and consumer finance. Experts will draw upon the Urban Institute's rich history of social science research to produce evidence-based analyses and serve as a hub for dialogue among policymakers, academics, banking and finance market participants, and advocates. Leading this new area of research are Center Director Laurie Goodman and Senior Fellows Jim Parrott and Ellen Seidman. In addition to periodic studies and convenings, the Center will regularly publish a chart-book that pulls together current housing finance data from many sources in an easily accessible format.

The Citi Foundation and John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation provided generous support at the leadership level to launch the Housing Finance Policy Center. Additional support was provided by The Ford Foundation and the Open Society Foundation toward the launch of the Center.

Program

Opening Remarks and Panel Discussion

After brief remarks about the goals and work planned for the new Center, Urban Institute experts situated the debate about the future of housing finance in the broader context of household demographic changes, changing patterns of wealth accumulation, and direct and tax expenditures for housing. The discussion will cover a range of near term policy initiatives (legislative and regulatory) that are under consideration and will be framed by new and recent research of the panelists and their Urban Institute colleagues.

Moderator: Ellen Seidman, Senior Fellow, Housing Finance Policy Center, Urban Institute

Laurie Goodman, Center Director, Housing Finance Policy Center, Urban Institute

Rolf Pendall, Center Director, Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center, Urban Institute

Signe-Mary McKernan, Senior Fellow and Co-Director, Opportunity and Ownership Program, Center on Labor, Human Services, and Population, Urban Institute

Eric Toder, Institute Fellow and Co-Director, Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center

Jim Parrott, Senior Fellow, Housing Finance Policy Center, Urban Institute