New Solutions for America’s Housing Crisis
Event Webcast — October 4, 2011
Agenda
Welcome and Keynote Address
8:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.
Panel I: Housing and the Recovery: Current Challenges
9:00 a.m. – 10:15 a.m.
This panel will provide an overview of the current state of the housing market and its impact and importance to the overall economy. Experts will also discuss specific problems within the housing market including: (1) “underwater” mortgages and loss of equity; (2) weak housing demand despite low prices; (3) foreclosures, mortgage modifications and servicer concerns; (4) the role of government in the housing market and GSE reform; (5) “shadow” inventory and REO properties; and (6) impacts on consumer confidence and middle-class wealth.
Panel II: Jumpstarting the Housing Market: Innovative Solutions
10:30 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.
Leading academics, industry representatives and advocates will describe and debate their unique solutions to stabilize and restart the housing market in the near- and medium-term. Among the proposals to be presented: (1) help for underwater borrowers; (2) solutions to the foreclosure crisis and mortgage modifications; (2) ideas for managing the vast supply of REO properties; and (3) options for jumpstarting sidelined consumer demand for housing, particularly among first-time buyers.
Keynote Address
11:45 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
Luncheon Keynote Discussion: The Government’s Role in Housing—Too Little, Too Much or Just Right?
12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Panel III: Housing, Tax Policy and Deficits
1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
Reducing the nation’s mounting debt and deficit has become an issue of paramount concern for both policymakers and the public. As the recently-formed deficit-reduction “supercommittee” wrestles with what are certain to be difficult choices, tax policies that encourage homeownership—chief among them the mortgage interest deduction— are increasingly the topic of debate. This panel will provide a balanced look at the costs and benefits of using tax policy as a means of promoting homeownership in the broader context of the push toward deficit reduction.