For several years I’ve been involved in a push to get the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) to update the Agency’s condominium rules. This has been a long-term effort fraught with fits and starts, built on a foundation of bureaucratic inertia. This has always been an access to credit issue for me. Unless a condo buildingRead More…
The New Orleans Times Picayune reports that debris removal in several parishes following the Great Flood of 2016 in Louisiana began today. As tens of thousands of homeowners and businesses gut their properties, removing flood debris is a major step in community recovery. An often overlooked obstacle to recovery can be FEMA refusal to reimburseRead More…
HUD Secretary Julian Castro’s February 11 Financial Services Committee debut was painful. Questions of issue command raised by the Secretary’s Daily Show appearance were clearly answered within 20 minutes of the committee being called to order. Committee Republicans made their points quickly and effectively: FHA is far below its statutory capital requirement, in violation of theRead More…
Rep. Baker: “Come on, can’t you vote for this? It’s just a study. Rep. X: “We just approved a big flood control project back home. I’d love to help you out. I’m sorry, I just can’t.” The politics of flood insurance in less than 40 words, according to my recollection. *** The bill in questionRead More…
The Bride: You and I have unfinished business. Bill: Baby, you ain’t kidding. Kill Bill, Vol. 2 For years housing finance reform was contentedly filibustered by white paper in the public square. On Tuesday, July 23rd, this long-running, polite discussion was rudely interrupted by a House committee chairman who presented his ideas for reform andRead More…
Look, sir, you have to realize something. My father was a revolutionary in 1910. I was born in 1909. I was left alone with my mother, Doña Rosenda, may she rest in peace. I wanted to be a writer. After a while, I became disillusioned. I dedicated myself to what was coming, not what hadRead More…
I think I have this thing where everybody has to think I’m the greatest, the quote unquote “Fantastic Mr. Fox.” And if they aren’t completely knocked out and dazzled and slightly intimidated by me, I don’t feel good about myself. — Mr. Fox, from Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox Thanks to Iowa we are finallyRead More…
New Orleanians use the storm and Katrina not only to indicate the primary meteorological incident, a hurricane; the terms additionally encompass the levee breaches, the ensuing flood, the resulting deaths, the rescue efforts, the governmental blunders, our extended—sometimes permanent—stays in the diaspora, the near-death of our city, Hurricane Rita, which arrived three weeks after Katrina,Read More…
I was enjoying a cup of coffee with a friend the other day whose only involvement in the housing finance system is that her family makes their mortgage payment on time every month. She told me about a family whose closing on a new home was canceled three times because the lender needed more thanRead More…
On January 18th, President Obama announced an executive order in the Wall Street Journal directing that federal agencies amend or repeal regulations unnecessarily impeding economic growth. The president wrote that the effort is intended to “…root out regulations that conflict, that are not worth the cost, or that are just plain dumb.” The president’s announcementRead More…