Barney Frank: “I would note that this is one of those times when we can bring forward a bill that will advance an important social…”

“I would note that this is one of those times when we can bring forward a bill that will advance an important social purpose dealing with our housing affordability crisis, and this is not for subsidized housing, but as we build housing, multifamily housing, as we increase the housing stock, we deal with the affordability problem because there is a problem here of supply and demand. The affordability program is exacerbated by a shortage of supply, and as we increase the supply even of conventional housing, we are dealing with that. This also has the unusual aspect of probably helping to reduce the Federal deficit. FHA premiums, given the repayment rate, particularly when we are dealing at this end of the spectrum, make money for the Federal Government.”