Opportunity and Ownership: Other

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Edward Gramlich, the Richard B. Fisher Senior Fellow at the Urban Institute and a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System from 1997 to 2005, died September 5. In his last paper, delivered at a Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City symposium shortly before his death, he called for swift action to fix the problems in the subprime mortgage market. The paper was presented by former Federal Reserve colleague David Wilcox, who offered "Four Images of Ned Gramlich" before reading Gramlich's "Booms and Busts: The Case of Subprime Mortgages."

Many pension plans pay out benefits over a worker's remaining life. Perhaps inadvertently, they then discriminate against groups with shorter life expectancies. Losers include those with poorer health, less education, and more physically demanding jobs. Racial groups with higher mortality rates, like blacks, also lose. This discrimination, however, can largely be overcome with compensating mechanisms.

In this Washington Examiner commentary, senior fellow Edward Gramlich argues that, despite foreclosures, three-quarters of new homeowners with subprime mortgages are making their payments. However, policymakers should consider increasing protections and safeguards for them.

As is true nationally, many home buyers in the District of Columbia have made use of subprime loans to purchase a home. Data indicate that use of subprime loans is highest in Wards 4, 5, 7, and 8, and among African-American and Latino borrowers. High use of subprime loans by these groups point to areas where predatory or illegal practices might be occurring. The D.C. Council can consider several measures to address these concerns, including providing better education and credit counseling for homebuyers, requiring more reporting by mortgage lenders, and testing mortgage lenders for fair housing practices.

[Tulsa World] With media engrossed by skyrocketing home prices, Center on Metropolitan Housing and Communities Director Margery Austin Turner and Research Associate Carla Herbig remind readers that "for many Americans, spiraling home prices and rents aren't the only barriers to housing. Discrimination -- by landlords, real estate agents and mortgage lenders -- stands in the way of too many families searching for a place to live."