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that increase access to neighborhoods that promote economic mobility, protect manufactured housing community residents—who often face predatory or harmful practices—and create a market for certain shared equity homeownership programs, which ensure the affordability of a home for successive homebuyers. Support shared equity programs run by local governments or nonprofits Shared equity homeownership programs create a portfolio of homes that are affordable for low- and moderate-income buyers and are kept affordable for subsequent qualifying purchasers through resale restrictions. 53 One longitudinal study found that more than 93 percent of households under shared equity programs sustained homeownership for five years or more. 54 With the proper incentives—for example, through the Duty to Serve rule—Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac can help boost the market for shared equity homeownership. By purchasing mortgages for homes in shared equity programs, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac can help this promising alternative between renting and traditional homeownership gain more ground. 55 This could become a powerful tool for making affordable housing accessible to more prospective homebuyers. Neighborhood stabilization Policymakers can also strengthen the housing market by promoting neighborhood stabilization efforts in communities still suffering from the widespread foreclosures during the Great Recession. Prioritize home retention and tighten reporting standards for purchasers of nonperforming loans Many homeowners in middle-class communities remain underwater on their mortgages, and many live in or near distressed neighborhoods. 56 When the FHA, Fannie Mae, or Freddie Mac sell distressed mortgages, ensuring that buyers prioritize home retention and manage unavoidable foreclosures responsibly is critical to minimize negative effects on the neighborhood. The FHA and the FHFA, which regulates Fannie and Freddie, announced policy changes this year that help ensure that investors who purchase nonperforming loans from Fannie, Freddie, or the FHA consider borrowers for principal reduction; take responsibility for vacant properties; and refrain from offering certain predatory loan modifications. 57 120 Center for American Progress | Raising Wages and Rebuilding Wealth
Changes such as these have faced pushback from some lawmakers, 58 but these changes are vital to ensuring that nonperforming loan sales by Fannie, Freddie, and the FHA do not destabilize neighborhoods still in the process of recovering from the economic crisis. Policymakers should not obstruct these changes; they should allow Fannie, Freddie, and the FHA to implement the policy improvements to their sales efficiently and effectively. The FHA and the enterprises should have strong reporting standards in place so that they can closely monitor program performance. Support rural communities through a progressive agenda for rural housing finance In addition, progressive housing policies for rural communities can help address the trends of negative equity, depopulation, and maturing affordability that those communities face today. Policymakers should support key loan programs from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, or USDA, such as the Section 515 program, which helps build affordable multifamily housing, 59 and the Section 521 Rural Rental Assistance program, which provides an additional subsidy on behalf of low-income tenants for properties financed by certain USDA programs. 60 Policymakers should also ensure that tenant protections are in place for residents of manufactured housing communities. Manufactured homes, which are built in factories and transported to their sites, are a major source of housing in rural areas and are sometimes arranged into communities. 61 Residents of manufactured housing communities, however, often face certain problems, including rent hikes, park closures, and poor management. 62 By promoting resident ownership of manufactured housing communities and supporting tenant protections for community residents, policymakers can make an important source of affordable housing safer for rural residents. Finally, the FHFA should ensure that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac support the hardest-hit populations and regions in rural America, such as Native American communities, through properly structuring the Duty to Serve rule. The FHFA can encourage Fannie and Freddie to purchase loan programs that service Native American communities and conduct outreach and technical assistance to help Native American nations build the internal capacity for community development. Steps such as these would support existing middle-class renters and homeowners in rural communities while easing the path of lower-income people striving to enter the middle class. Housing | www.americanprogress.org 121
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AGENCY/PHOTOGRAPHER Raising Wages a
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Contents 1 Introduction and summary
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CHAPTER 1 Introduction and summary
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Nevertheless, public policy can and
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of growth came to an end. Middle-cl
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The main reason middle-class income
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The above analysis of incomes focus
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TABLE 1.2 Wealth across demographic
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FIGURE 1.6 The cost of education, h
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Policy response and recommendations
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• Address the labor market effect
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Health care • Address cost shifti
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Endnotes 1 Authors’ analysis of M
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Introduction and summary | www.amer
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CHAPTER 2 Jobs and Wages By Michael
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One of the most striking aspects of
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In sum, these five factors leave ma
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ments to open production sites in l
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The deterioration of other regulato
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ate returned to its 2001 level. The
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This speaks to a larger challenge t
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Underinvestment produces chronic ro
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sidized jobs program that would hel
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Restore worker bargaining power We
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Rebuild labor standards and the bro
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Additional steps should also be tak
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Policymakers should work with stake
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At the same time, we can take actio
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Endnotes 1 Authors’ analysis of C
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52 Charles Whalen and Felix Reichli
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96 Julia Gordon, “Inequality, Opp
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prehensive immigration reform. Pass
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An Immigration Policy that Works fo
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CHAPTER 3 Early Childhood By Katie
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Due to these high costs, parents ar
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information available to parents. 2
Page 75 and 76: Policy recommendations Two new poli
Page 77 and 78: Endnotes 1 Annie E. Casey Foundatio
Page 79 and 80: Early Childhood | www.americanprogr
Page 81 and 82: CHAPTER 4 Higher Education By Ben M
Page 83 and 84: FIGURE 4.1 Average tuition and requ
Page 85 and 86: FIGURE 4.3 Net price of public four
Page 87 and 88: Policy recommendations Increasing h
Page 89 and 90: Endnotes 1 Bureau of Labor Statisti
Page 91 and 92: for the same home. 9 Furthermore, t
Page 93 and 94: LGBT People Face Significant Barrie
Page 95 and 96: CHAPTER 5 Health Care By Maura Cals
Page 97 and 98: Health care benefits are part of a
Page 99 and 100: When combined, these trends meant t
Page 101 and 102: Policy recommendations The ACA made
Page 103 and 104: The notice should outline how much
Page 105 and 106: Require drug companies to justify p
Page 107 and 108: Endnotes 1 Mark W. Stanton, “Empl
Page 109 and 110: Health Care | www.americanprogress.
Page 111 and 112: Workers with disabilities are also
Page 113 and 114: with disabilities, child care provi
Page 115 and 116: 23 Faye Ong, ed., Inclusion Works!
Page 117 and 118: CHAPTER 6 Housing By Sarah Edelman
Page 119 and 120: FIGURE 6.1 Homeownership rate 75% 7
Page 121 and 122: middle-class households: The share
Page 123 and 124: Homebuyers in the coming decade may
Page 125: Support and expand low down payment
Page 129 and 130: for lots and rules against construc
Page 131 and 132: 20 Ibid. 21 Joint Center for Housin
Page 133 and 134: 63 CAP published a report in Decemb
Page 135 and 136: African American and Latino workers
Page 137 and 138: Endnotes 1 Due to a lack of disaggr
Page 139 and 140: CHAPTER 7 Retirement By David Madla
Page 141 and 142: FIGURE 7.1 Households are not build
Page 143 and 144: FIGURE 7.3 Middle class households
Page 145 and 146: The federal government plays a larg
Page 147 and 148: Modernize survivorship and divorce
Page 149 and 150: Fully implement the conflict of int
Page 151 and 152: 27 Christian E. Weller and David Ma
Page 153 and 154: Retirement | www.americanprogress.o
Page 155 and 156: CHAPTER 8 Conclusion By Brendan Duk
Page 157 and 158: The country will elect a new presid
Page 159 and 160: Conclusion | www.americanprogress.o
Page 161 and 162: Thomas Huelskoetter is the Research
Page 163 and 164: Acknowledgements The authors would
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