Snappy newsletters. Simple Facebook sharing. Spirited comments. Sweet features are waiting… GET THEM NOW!

Fed Housing Policy Shift: Rent, Don't Own

Jackhammers Bush "ownership" policy

By Mat Probasco, Newser Staff

Posted Aug 17, 2009 1:21 AM CDT

(Newser) – In a major housing policy shift, President Barack Obama will steer billions of economic stimulus dollars to create tens of thousands of federally subsidized rental units in American cities, reports the Boston Globe. The $4.25 billion initiative is a stark departure from former president George Bush's push to create an "ownership society."

Analysts say the move is practical, given foreclosure rates, the credit crunch, and the struggling economy. The move is also seen as a federal acknowledgment that not everyone is cut out for home ownership. Plans call for construction of low-rise apartment buildings and town houses, and federal purchase of foreclosed homes to be remade into rental units.

[Images (3)]

[Quotes (1)]

A reduced price sign sits in front of a house in Glendale, Calif. (Getty Images)

A sale sign rests near a newly constructed home in a housing development in North Aurora, Ill. (Getty Images)

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow

“I’ve always said the American dream should be a home—not homeownership."
- Representative Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow

To report an error on this story, notify our editors.

OTHER STORIES ON OUR RADAR

AP Photo

35 Brutally Honest Reasons Men Say No to Sex (The Stir)

Man in Mugshot Explains Why He Has Half a Head (HuffPost)

Another Sign Rihanna and Chris Brown Might Get Back Together? (Celebuzz)

These Exes Were Spotted Making Out … and That's a Bad Thing (Bleacher Report)

Which Entertainer Pulled Out of 'Inappropriate' Whitney Tribute? (NewsOne)

Partner Links

A snapshot of the day's best news stories.

View Larger Grid

All Today Yesterday Pick a Date

COMMENTS

Read the comment policy

Showing 3 of 7 comments

SilenceDogood

Aug 17, 2009 12:57 PM CDT

This is not a bas idea; it will help the economy with construction jobs and reduce demand on apartments, thereby keeping rental rates competitive. Most ominous is it gives us a glimpse into what the administration foresees as our future, a nation of renters, not owners

guanlob

Aug 17, 2009 11:51 AM CDT

"Of course it's 'schizophrenic government', they're two different people from two different parties. Did you expect them to have the same view on everything?" Federal Reserve Chairman is the one doing monetary policy, and a lot more other officials have been around for both Bush and Obama terms.

SilenceDogood

Aug 17, 2009 11:25 AM CDT

good idea, but how soon can it begin? The administration has come up with some good ideas, the toxic bank for one, but they need to follow through on the programs and stop futzing around.

What's Popular Now on Facebook

Rick Santorum: Birth Control Is 'Not OK'

Valentine's Day Role-Playing Goes Very Wrong

Boston Globe (Source Grid »)

Politics • US

Barack Obama • housing • George W. Bush • Department of Housing and Urban Development • housing policy

More Newser Stories

Detroit Bust Would've Been Better Than Bailout

Ex-Prez Bush says bailout his idea, and a good one

(NEWSER) - Three years ago, Mitt Romney wrote that President Obama should " Let Detroit Go Bankrupt ," instead of bailing out the struggling auto industry, in a famous New York Times column. And today? Even with the American auto industry on the rebound, Michigan's GOP primary looming on Feb. 28, and Rick Santorum breathing down his neck in the polls , Romney still thinks bankruptcy would have been better than the president's "crony capitalism," he writes in the Detroit News . "I believe that without his intervention things there would be better," he writes. More»

How Much Did Obama Really Add to Deficit?

Ezra Klein crunches the numbers and comes up with a lower total than you think

(NEWSER) - Mitt Romney has taken to carrying around a debt clock, blaming President Obama for the ever-climbing number it shows. But the clock doesn't show how much Obama has actually added to that debt, so Ezra Klein set out to find out. "There are two answers," he writes in the Washington Post . The first, which is "simple and wrong" is $4.7 trillion. That's what you get when you subtract the debt when Obama took office (about $10.5 trillion) from the current debt (about $15.2 trillion). More»

Speech Was Obama's 'Mission Accomplished'

All he needed was a flight suit

(NEWSER) - He may not have unfurled a banner or donned a flight suit, “but make no mistake: President Obama gave his own version of a ‘mission accomplished’ speech last night,” writes Dana Milbank of the Washington Post . Last night the president declared—“perhaps prematurely”—that the Afghanistan surge had been successful, and that he would “drawdown from a position of strength,” a line eerily reminiscent of George W. Bush’s “return on success.” More»

Obama Doctrine? He Just Borrowed Bush's

His Mideast plan is the same as his predecessor's: Charles Krauthammer

(NEWSER) - Analysts keep looking to define an Obama Doctrine, but after listening to the president's Mideast speech yesterday , Charles Krauthammer thinks it's easy: The Obama Doctrine is the Bush Doctrine, Krauthammer writes in the Washington Post . Bush "made the spread of democracy the key US objective in the Middle East," and Obama is fully on board. He even praised Iraq yesterday as a beacon of democracy for the region. All "hail the Bush-Obama doctrine." More»

Bush Declines Obama's Ground Zero Invite

He celebrates bin Laden 'victory' but wants to stay out of spotlight

(NEWSER) - When President Obama visits Ground Zero tomorrow to mark the death of Osama bin Laden, George W. Bush won't be with him. Obama invited the former president to join him on his visit to the World Trade Center site, but a spokesperson tells Politico that Bush turned him down. “President Bush appreciated the invite, but has chosen in his post-presidency to remain largely out of the spotlight,” the rep says. “He continues to celebrate with all Americans this important victory in the war on terror." More»

NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS

What is Newser?

Face it: there's too much news. At Newser, we choose the most thought-provoking and entertaining stories from hundreds of US and international sources and reduce them to a headline, picture, and two paragraphs. And we do it 24/7—you can come back morning, noon, night (and in between) for something new that matters. Read less, know more.

Learn more »

Partnering with: Slate

View Newser on the mobile website

Fed Housing Policy Shift: Rent, Don't Own