Treasury Housing Finance Plan: AEI's Pinto, Pollock and Wallison Available to Comment
AEI | AEI Press
February 16, 2011

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I thought you would be interested in what AEI housing experts Edward Pinto, Alex Pollock, and Peter Wallison had to say about the Obama Administration's newly released housing finance plan:

"We are delighted to see that the administration has recognized the importance of focusing most of the housing finance in private markets, and adopts the idea of gradually winding down Fannie and Freddie. The first of the administration's three options is essentially the proposal in the white paper we released in late January. Still, the administration could not bring itself to recognize the hazard to the taxpayers that is implicit in any government role in housing finance. We look forward to participating in the debate to come, not only on the future of Fannie and Freddie, but on the future of housing finance in the United States."

In their own recently released AEI housing white paper, Taking the Government Out of Housing Finance: Principles for Reforming the Housing Finance Market, Pinto, Pollock, and Wallison base their reform on four principles: (1) the housing finance market should function without any direct government support, (2) necessary regulation should be focused on ensuring mortgage credit quality, (3) programs for low-income families should limit risks to homeowners and taxpayers, and (4) Fannie and Freddie should be eliminated as government-sponsored enterprises over time.

Edward Pinto, AEI Resident Fellow

An executive vice president and chief credit officer for Fannie Mae until the late 1980s, Pinto has done groundbreaking research on the role of government housing policies in the lead-up to the financial crisis. In particular, his data have revealed striking facts about the contributions of housing policy to the mortgage crisis.

edward.pinto@aei.org (202.863.5863)

Assistant: steffanie.hawkins@aei.org (202.419.5212)

Alex Pollock, AEI Resident Fellow

A former president and chief executive officer of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago, Pollock is an expert on financial policy issues, including housing finance and government-sponsored enterprises.

apollock@aei.org (202.862.7190)

Assistant: steffanie.hawkins@aei.org (202.419.5212)

Peter Wallison, AEI Arthur F. Burns Fellow in Financial Policy Studies

As a codirector of AEI's program on financial policy studies, Wallison researches housing finance, banking, and securities regulation. He is also an expert on government-sponsored enterprises. Wallison was a member of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC) and the author of a dissent from the FCIC's report that placed much of the blame for the financial crisis on government housing policies.

pwallison@aei.org (202.862.5864)

Assistant: steffanie.hawkins@aei.org (202.419.5212)

For additional media inquiries or help in reaching Edward Pinto, Alex Pollock, or Peter Wallison, please contact Hampton Foushee at hampton.foushee@aei.org (202.862.5806).

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