The best housing program this nation could have is for the government to stay out, let the price of real estate and credit reflect true realities of supply, demand, and risk, and let private people decide for themselves what they need to do and how hard they need to work to acquire what they want.
As the institution of government grows, we sadly watch the collapse of the institutions that really sustain growth of home ownership: American marriage and families.
According to the Census Bureau, the single largest incidence of homeownership, 86.3 percent, is among married-couple families. Yet, traditional families now amount to barely more than a quarter of our households.
And, sadly and ironically, the problem of family structure is most severe in low- income communities where government housing policy has been most targeted.
Social and economic policy are not separate universes but part of one fabric of institutions and laws that sustain freedom and prosperity.
Those who want to use the current crisis as an excuse to expand government and welfare state policies contribute to laying the foundation for our next crisis.
