Assessing The Ability-to-Repay and Qualified Mortgage Rule

photo by Alan Levine

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has issued a Request for Information Regarding Ability-to-Repay/Qualified Mortgage Rule Assessment. Dodd-Frank

requires the Bureau to conduct an assessment of each significant rule or order adopted by the Bureau under Federal consumer financial law. The Bureau must publish a report of the assessment not later than five years after the effective date of such rule or order. The assessment must address, among other relevant factors, the rule’s effectiveness in meeting the purposes and objectives of title X of the Dodd Frank Act and the specific goals stated by the Bureau. The assessment also must reflect available evidence and any data that the Bureau reasonably may collect. Before publishing a report of its assessment, the Bureau must invite public comment on recommendations for modifying, expanding, or eliminating the significant rule or order. (82 F.R. 25247)

The Bureau invites the public to submit the following:

  1. Comments on the feasibility and effectiveness of the assessment plan, the objectives of the ATR/QM Rule that the Bureau intends to emphasize in the assessment, and the outcomes, metrics, baselines, and analytical methods for assessing the effectiveness of the rule as described in part IV above;
  2. Data and other factual information that may be useful for executing the Bureau’s assessment plan, as described in part IV above;
  3. Recommendations to improve the assessment plan, as well as data, other factual information, and sources of data that would be useful and available to execute any recommended improvements to the assessment plan;
  4. Data and other factual information about the benefits and costs of the ATR/ QM Rule for consumers, creditors, and other stakeholders in the mortgage industry; and about the impacts of the rule on transparency, efficiency, access, and innovation in the mortgage market;
  5. Data and other factual information about the rule’s effectiveness in meeting the purposes and objectives of Title X of the Dodd-Frank Act (section 1021), which are listed in part IV above;
  6. Recommendations for modifying, expanding, or eliminating the ATR/QM Rule. (82 F.R. 25250)

As with the RESPA Assessment, this ATR/QM Assessment provides “consumers and their advocates, housing counselors, mortgage creditors and other industry representatives, industry analysts, and other interested persons” with the opportunity to help shape how the ATR/QM Rule should work going forward. (Id.)

Comments must be received on or before July 31, 2017.

Inclusionary Housing: Fact and Fiction

photo by Bart Everson

The Center for Housing Policy has issued a policy brief, Separating Fact from Fiction to Design Effective Inclusionary Housing Programs. I am not sure fact was fully separated from fiction when I finished reading it.  It opens,

Inclusionary housing programs generally refer to city and county planning ordinances that require or incentivize developers to build below-market-rate homes (affordable homes) as part of the process of developing market-rate housing developments. More than 500 local jurisdictions in the United States have implemented inclusionary housing policies, and inclusionary requirements have been adopted in a wide variety of places—big cities, suburban communities and small towns.

Despite the proliferation of inclusionary housing programs, the approach continues to draw criticism. There have been legal challenges around inclusionary housing requirements in California, Illinois, Idaho, Colorado and Wisconsin, among others. In addition to legal questions, critics have claimed inclusionary housing policies are not effective at producing affordable housing and have negative impacts on local housing markets.

While there have been numerous studies on inclusionary housing, they unfortunately do not provide conclusive evidence about the overall effectiveness of inclusionary housing programs. These studies vary substantially in terms of their research approaches and quality. In addition, it is difficult to generalize the findings from the existing research because researchers have examined policies in only a handful of places and at particular points in time when economic and housing market conditions might have been quite different. Given these limitations, however, the most highly regarded empirical evidence suggests that inclusionary housing programs can produce affordable housing and do not lead to significant declines in overall housing production or to increases in market-rate prices. However, the effectiveness of an inclusionary housing program depends critically on local economic and housing market characteristics, as well as specific elements of the program’s design and implementation. (1, endnotes omitted and emphasis in the original)

The brief concludes that, in general, ” mandatory programs in strong housing markets that have predictable rules, well-designed cost offsets, and flexible compliance alternatives tend to be the most effective types of inclusionary housing programs.” (11, emphasis removed)

I have to say that this research brief does not give me a great deal of confidence that mandatory inclusionary zoning programs are going to be all that effective.  Indeed, the conclusion suggests that many ducks need to line up before we can count on them to make a real dent in affordable housing production. While this by no means should imply that they should be curtailed, we should continue to evaluate them carefully to see if they live up to their promise.

Financial Education: Miles to Go Before We Can Sleep Easily

The CFPB has posted Financial Empowerment Training for Social Service Programs: A Scan of Community-Based Initiatives. The report opens well, with Gail Hillebrand, the Associate Director for Consumer Education and Engagement, noting that

Consumers need four things to be financially empowered. First, consumers need consistent access and the ability to choose among high-quality financial services. Second, consumers need sufficient information about the costs, the benefits, and the risks, of choices in the marketplace. Third, consumers need a set of financial habits and skills that constitute financial capability to help them to make the financial decisions that benefit themselves and their families. Finally, consumers need to know that they can get a better shot at achieving their own life goals if they affirmatively seek information, make choices, and take steps to control their financial lives. (1)

No argument there.

But the “scan” in this document makes me fear for a strong connection between what consumers need, as outlined above, and what existing programs are doing.  Finding 9 of the report state that “Most training initiatives targeted at case managers recommended some form of assessment of the effectiveness of the initiatives, but few tracked whether case managers were using this information with clients.” (6-7)

This was the only finding that really talked about evaluating the success of financial education/empowerment initiatives. And it indicates that programs don’t really try to measure their implementation, let alone their effectiveness.  I have earlier critiqued (and here) the CFPB’s financial education agenda and this most recent report only strengthens my belief that the CFPB should do more fundamental research on what actually helps consumers make good financial decisions before it begins to fund financial education initiatives.