Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, when it comes to promoting access to homeownership, much of the focus tends to be on how high housing prices are pricing many borrowers out of homeownership. But the landscape of homeownership opportunities is varied, and for many communities, the lack of access to traditional mortgage financing for small-dollar mortgages continues to be a major barrier. Specifically, I am talking about mortgage financing for homes that are priced at $70,000 or less. For many rural communities, and predominantly communities of color that are struggling to overcome the impacts of the foreclosure crisis, there are lower-value homes that would otherwise be ideal homeownership opportunities for first-time home buyers and working class families, but the lack of traditional mortgage financing options acts as a barrier to those opportunities. {time} 1530 Data from the Urban Institute shows that these small-dollar mortgages are denied by lenders at double the rate compared to larger loans, and this trend cannot be explained away by differences in the creditworthiness of applicants. The bottom line is that lenders don't make as much money originating these smaller loans, so they are less likely to make loans on collateral that don't maximize their profit.…”