Opportunity and Ownership: Books

Publications : Books

Low-income families have scant savings to cushion a job loss or illness, and can find economic mobility impossible without funds to invest in education, homes, or businesses. And though a lack of resources leaves such families vulnerable, income-support programs are often closed to those with a bit of savings or even a car. Considering welfare-to-work reforms, the increasingly advanced skill demands of the American workforce, and our stretched Social Security system, such an approach is inadequate to lift families out of poverty. Asset-based policies—allowing or even helping low-income families build wealth—are an increasingly popular strategy to facilitate financial stability.

A new Urban Institute Press book offers a slate of reform opportunities for the ailing subprime mortgage market and provides one of the first comprehensive analyses of this still-evolving segment of the mortgage industry.