How to tell if one has made it in America? See if they own a home. For decades, homeownership has been one of the cornerstones of the American dream, and the U.S. housing market was the envy of the world. But that’s changed.
The federal mortgage subsidy complex, which turned (white) America into a nation of homeowners in the postwar decades and helped build the world’s largest middle class, is no longer doing what it’s supposed to. Faced with stagnating wages and ballooning property prices, fewer Americans can afford to buy their own homes. The mortgage interest deduction and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are turning into regressive subsidies, channeling taxpayer money to rich homeowners and driving up housing costs while a growing group of middle-income renters must fend for themselves. Rent-stabilization laws have become weaker over time. And New York is dealing with a crumbling public housing infrastructure.