House of Cards: Reforming America's Housing Finance System

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—privately managed, profit-seeking government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs)—played a crucial role in inflating America’s housing bubble. Now that the bubble has burst and the GSEs’ mistakes have resulted in huge taxpayer losses, their role must be rethought. In this compendium, six leading mortgage and real-estate finance scholars present their proposals to reform America’s housing finance system in ways that are productive yet sensitive to the fragile state of the current recovery. Each proposal considers how to protect taxpayers from future losses associated with the GSEs, increase the role of private capital in financing mortgages, and maintain a safe and robust system to channel capital to able borrowers.