It's incredible how the [f]right[ened] wing will try and blame everyone else for the wrongs in the world.
Take the housing crisis (translation: the world-wide financial crisis). The dittoheads are now trying to blame ACORN (without knowing what ACORN is an acronym for), Fannie and Freddie (without knowing the're criticizing what used to be private companies), and (of course) 'The Democrat Party'.
So it may surprise them to know where these words came from...
[The Candidate] will provide $1.7 billion in investor-based tax credits to encourage the rehabilitation or construction of new, affordable homes in distressed communities.
Who was pushing for the rapid building of new homes in inner-cities? More, below the fold...
The short answer is: Texas Governor George Walker Bush, on his 2000 campaign website.
Homeownership
Governor Bush believes homeownership is at the heart of the American Dream. However, the homeownership rate among low-income families and minorities lags behind the national average. Therefore, to increase opportunities for homeownership, Governor Bush will permit government-subsidized renters to aggregate up to a year's worth of rental vouchers to fund the down payment on a home. He will also establish a $1 billion "American Dream Down Payment Fund" to provide matching grants to lenders to help an additional 650,000 low-income families finance the purchase of a first home. Finally, Governor Bush will provide $1.7 billion in investor-based tax credits to encourage the rehabilitation or construction of new, affordable homes in distressed communities.
Governor Bush's Objectives
Expand Opportunity: Governor Bush believes that homeownership is central to the health of the U.S. economy and the wealth of families. Housing accounts for more than 22 percent of U.S. GDP and 21 percent of all household wealth. However, despite a record homeownership rate, the rates for low-income households (52 percent) and minority households (47 percent) are still well below the national average of 67 percent. The chief obstacle to homeownership is the inability of many families to finance the down payment and closing costs. Governor Bush will work to tear down this - and other - obstacles to homeownership and, thus, to the middle class.
Increase the Supply of Affordable Homes: Many distressed communities lack a sufficient supply of affordable homes. One of the biggest obstacles to revitalizing these communities is the gap between the cost of acquiring and rehabbing a home or constructing a new home and the low market prices for homes in distressed areas. Governor Bush believes the government should create incentives for private developers to bridge this gap.
Maintain Local Control of Housing: Housing is a local issue and a national priority. Local government and communities must have local control and flexibility with federal resources. Governor Bush believes the federal government should continue to enforce anti-discrimination laws and maximize the opportunity for homeownership for all Americans.
Governor Bush's Homeownership Proposals
Governor Bush's Homeownership Plan has 3 objectives:
- To Increase Homeownership Opportunities for Low-income Working Families, Governor Bush will:
# Reform the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Section 8 rental voucher program to allow recipients to aggregate up to one year's worth of rental vouchers to use toward the down payment and closing costs associated with the purchase of a first home.
# Establish the "American Dream Down Payment Fund" to provide $1 billion over five years to match down payment assistance provided by banks on a 3 to 1 basis up to $1,500 per family. The fund will be administered by state housing agencies and should help over 650,000 first-time low-income homebuyers.
- To Increase the Supply of Affordable Single Family Housing, Governor Bush will:
# Establish the "Renewing the Dream" program to provide $1.7 billion of investor-based tax credits over five years to states to create affordable single family housing. The program will provide investors with a tax credit of up to 50 percent of project costs to rehabilitate existing abandoned housing or create new single-family housing in low-income urban and rural neighborhoods.
- To Remove Regulatory Barriers to Affordable Housing, Governor Bush will:
# Identify and remove federal regulations that increase the cost of buying and building housing. He will also make an existing federal clearinghouse on local regulations more accessible to local communities.
In summary, Bush's 2000 plan was:
Encourage poor people to buy lots of homes.
Drop regulations and give incentives to lenders to sell as many mortgages as possible.
Specifically concentrate on distressed areas to build new houses.
Tear down the need for down payments, closing costs, and anything else that could be called qualifying criteria.
In 2004, Bush aponted Alphonso Jackson to be the new head of Housing and Urban Development...
If anyone had any illusions of distancing Bush's campaign promises from the legislative actions of his Party, this shoots it down. Jones is known for the following quote:
So, we're saying, if we can give developers and builders incentives to cut down on the regulatory barriers that are faced in this country, then we might be able to address the needs of affordable housing.
A man. Appointed by Bush. Approved by the Republican-dominated Congress. And 100% for deregulation.
So what about the whole ACORN thing the Republicans and their talking heads keep bringing up as their scapegoat? Well, it's the strangest thing, but wouldn't you know that it all ties in with the illegal firing of the US Attorneys?!?
Specifically: David Iglesias.
You see, Iglesias was wrongfully fired by Alberto Gonzales after Iglesias said there wasn't evidence to indict an ACORN affiliate in New Mexico. Even back then, the Republican Party had a problem with ACORN. So when an attorney investigated and said the case the GOP wanted to bring up was bogus, he was told to resign.
If this sounds at all like the premise to the Iraq War, and how people like General Eric Shinseki were also let go for not following Republican Party doctrine, now you see how the players and methods are interchangeable in both instances. The Republicans want to invent a reason to go on the warpath. So they look for something that may or may not be there. And if it turns out that no evidence actually exists (whether it be about alleged (by the GOP) voter fraud in New Mexico, or weapons of mass destruction in Iraq), then they'll just invent their own damned 'evidence' and convince enough gullible people to fall for it.
The DOJ recently published a huge document of the investigation. Here it is, almost 400 pages in PDF format. The fun stuff starts on page 166, which has a helpful timeline of what happened to Attorney Iglesias.
The summary puts it this way:
"We concluded that complaints from New Mexico Republican politicians and party activists about Iglesias's handling of voter fraud and public corruption cases caused his removal, and that the Department removed Iglesias without any inquiry into his handling of the cases." (p.326)
Even though Bush ran on a platform of deregulation by "[removing] federal regulations that increase the cost of buying and building housing" in 2000.
Even though his objective was written in this way...
...the rates for low-income households (52 percent) and minority households (47 percent) are still well below the national average of 67 percent. The chief obstacle to homeownership is the inability of many families to finance the down payment and closing costs. Governor Bush will work to tear down this - and other - obstacles to homeownership and, thus, to the middle class.
Even though he specifically appointed a man to the HUD that agreed with his deregulatory opinions.
Sure: blame the people you were looking to blame for something anyway. I'm sure enough gullible people will fall for that too, just like they fell for the same tactic regarding Iraq.