Presidential candidates have been largely silent about housing policy during their campaigns, with the exception of Hillary Clinton, who laid out a comprehensive plan in February. Now Sen. Bernie Sanders is offering a plan of his own to address the affordable housing crisis in the United States following a tour of the New York City Housing Authority’s Howard Houses in Brooklyn last weekend.
In order to combat the affordable housing crisis, Sanders said he will take on a number of initiatives should he be elected president in November. Those include: Expanding the National Affordable Housing Trust Fund; Closing the wage/rent cap; Defending and strengthening fair housing laws; Requiring that housing built with government subsidies to remain affordable; Sufficient funding for public housing operating and capital costs; Protecting rental assistance; and Expanding the housing choice initiative.
Borrower claims appear to be fleeing the housing market two years after the CFPB introduced the Ability to Repay rule for mortgage servicers. A report from Fitch Ratings found that major U.S. residential mortgage servicers have yet to see any borrower claims since the ATR rule went into effect in January 2014, but this nonexistent claims trend could soon come to an end as certain non-QM loans becoming more prevalent in the market.