I enjoyed meeting the legendary Henry Cisneros last week.
Cisneros, who was Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President Clinton, pioneered the path to America’s highest home ownership rate in history.
This is good, if you believe, as Cisneros does, that homeownership is the pathway to the middle class. And bad if you think that not everyone should be middle class, and that policies like this are what led to the mortgage foreclosure crisis.
Cisneros got me to thinking about a little paradox: Loose, government-backed lending may have contributed to the foreclosure crisis, but guess what happens when you turn the screws on loose government-backed mortgage lending? I am afraid we are living it. No loans, no homes.
Cisneros is continuing his affordable home mission as founder of CityView, a Los Angeles based investment firm.
Click here to read my column on Cisneros.
