On February 2, 2004 the Administration announced a proposal to create zero-downpayment federally insured home mortgages for low-income households with good credit and zero-downpayment loans for households with blemished credit. After failing to secure Congressional approval of the program in 2004, Congress is now considering a scaled-back pilot program. This is just the latest in a series of private and public sector initiatives to push low- and moderate-income families into homeownership. The time has come to ask whether a "homeownership above all else and at any cost" policy is wise.
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