Posted on September 22, 2016
NEWTON --- National and local experts on housing and mortgage policy will gather at Boston College on Friday, Sept. 30 for a day long discussion on current mortgage policies and how access to credit may be contributing to the growing gap between rich and poor.
Entitled “Has the Mortgage Pendulum Swung Too Far and the Implications for Wealth Inequality,” the event will feature a keynote address by Dr. Michael Stegman, fellow for housing policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center and a former Obama Administration senior advisor for housing at both the National Economic Council and the Treasury Department.
The event is scheduled to take place on Friday, Sept. 30 from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Boston College Law School, 885 Centre Street, Newton. It will be held in the law school’s East Wing 120. Registration is free and a continental breakfast and lunch will be provided. Please RSVP in advance to rappaport@bc.edu.
The event is being sponsored by the Rappaport Center for Law and Public Policy at BC Law as part of its ongoing series of programs on public policy issues that impact Boston, the region and the U.S. The event is open to lenders, developers, affordable housing and homebuyer professionals, policy experts and students. To view the entire agenda, click here.
In addition to Stegman’s address, there will be panel discussions on access to credit, innovations in underwriting and current dynamics in the primary and secondary mortgage markets. Featured panelists will include Neil Bhutta, economist for the Federal Reserve Board, former Ford Foundation program officer Lisa Davis and Dr. Roberto Quercia of the Center for Community Capital at the University of North Carolina.
Local experts expected to participate include Tom Callahan, executive director of the Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance (MAHA), the Dorchester-based nonprofit that supports access to affordable and sustainable homeownership. MAHA has helped thousands of Boston area buyers purchase their first home and over 25,000 buyers have taken homebuyer education courses at MAHA.
Massachusetts Housing Partnership (MHP) Executive Director Clark Ziegler will also participate and discuss the success of the ONE Mortgage Program, the state’s most affordable mortgage program. Offered by MHP and the state in partnership with 37 lenders across Massachusetts, ONE Mortgage (formerly SoftSecond) was created in 1990 by lenders, community groups like MAHA, MHP and the state to address mortgage discrimination in Boston. Eventually taken statewide, it has helped nearly 20,000 low- and moderate-income families purchase their first home while maintaining low delinquency and foreclosure rates.