For all the folks who falsely believe that housing as we know it would exist without government subsidy really need to look a bit deeper into history.

I have to first admit that I felt the same way as I railed against below-market housing production and sales locally. Then I took an introductory course on urban planning and learned that all housing is subsidized by government. If you  consider taxes not collected and government programs to foster homeownership the entire market comes into a different light. Yes all housing is subsidized!

Look at the homeownership situation before the FHA was created. We were a nation of renters living in apartments. Add in the GI Bill which in many ways created the equity growth of the “greatest generation” and a perspective grows that nothing grows without government support.

If the Fannie and Freddie are eliminated, as is being discussed, the thirty-year mortgage will disappear. Really can anyone imagine a lender giving a fixed credit rate loan for such a term unless it is the government which recognizes the LONG term benefit of homeownership?

I hope that those who believe, as I did, that government intervention is wrong can see the truth in what I learned. The problem isn’t government intervention; the problem is greed pure and simple greed.

There was money to be made selling loans, there was insurance against loss of principal if the borrower defaulted, and we saw corporate leaders who made millions while destroying companies that had succeeded for hundreds of years. We see now that we had CEO’s of the GSEs who succumbed to the greed and went deeply into leveraged positions.

Please look beyond the most recent situation to understand the importance of government support in the stability of America’s community through homeownership.