A Responsible Market for Housing Finance: A Progressive Plan to Reform the U.S. Secondary Market for Residential Mortgages

This report from the Center for American Progress highlights the history of housing finance in this country, including the recent housing meltdown. The report outlines a plan for the future that involves private-sector capital through depository institutions and secondary mortgage markets and includes five guiding principals:

• Access to capital
• Stable and reliable products
• Standardized and transparent mortgage processes
• Affordable financing
• Consumer protections

The proposed goals are to preserve the availability of 30-year fixed mortgages, balance the U.S. housing policy to assure decent affordable rental housing and provide secondary mortgage support to smaller lenders such as credit unions and CDFIs.  Read more