WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, following the release of a letter from civil rights and advocacy organizations on guiding principles of housing finance reform, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) – ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs –applauded their work to ensure access to sustainable, affordable rental and homeownership opportunities throughout the housing market.
“Civil Rights organizations have laid out a strong plan for an equitable housing market that works for all families and communities,” said Brown. “The Trump Administration has ignored these important voices and it does a disservice to vulnerable communities and puts our housing market and taxpayers at risk.”
During Senate Banking Committee hearing in September, entitled ‘Housing Finance Reform: Next Steps,’ U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown pressed Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson and Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mark Calabria on the Administration’s housing finance plans, which would make mortgages more expensive and harder to get. Brown condemned officials for putting out a half-baked proposal that will reduce access to affordable housing and funnel more money back to the same Wall Street system that wrecked the housing market in 2008.
In June, during a Senate Banking Committee hearing, Sen. Brown laid out foundational principles for equitable housing finance reform that would serve all homeowners and renters. The principles reflect the feedback of key stakeholders who testified before the Committee during two days of hearings in March 2019.
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