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72 72 INVESTMENT GOVERNMENT PROPERTY PRESERVATION ADDRESSING HOUSING INSTABILITY VIA VOUCHERS AND GSE REFORM e U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs recently held a hearing titled "Priced Out: e State of Housing in America." With affordability as a major hurdle for many in achieving the American Dream of homeownership, Committee Chairman Sen. Sherrod Brown and Ranking Member Sen. Patrick J. Toomey hosted a panel of industry experts to discuss challenges in the market and propose plans to create new housing opportunities across the country. Witnesses included Dr. Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist & SVP of Research for the National Association of Realtors (NAR); Dr. Douglas Holtz-Eakin, President of the American Action Forum (AAF); and Peggy Bailey, VP of Housing Policy for the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. "We can't deny this problem any longer—we see it in every community across the country," said Sen. Brown in his opening comments. "It's not a Republican or Democratic problem. Congress must act." Delivering testimony on behalf of NAR, Dr. Yun serves the association as Chief Economist and oversees the Research Group at NAR. He supervises and is responsible for a range of research activity for NAR, including the association's Existing-Home Sales Report, Affordability Index, and Home Buyers and Sellers Profile Report. In his role with NAR, Dr. Yun creates the association's forecasts and participates in many economic forecasting panels. He appears regularly on financial news outlets, is a frequent speaker at real estate conferences throughout the nation and has testified before Congress. Dr. Yun has also appeared as a guest on CSPAN's Washington Journal. Before founding AAF in 2009, Dr. Holtz- Eakin served in a variety of influential policy positions. During 2001-2002, he was the Chief Economist of the President's Council of Economic Advisers (CEA), where he had also served during 1989-1990 as a Senior Staff Economist. At CEA, he helped to formulate policies addressing the 2000-2001 recession, and the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. From 2003-2005, he was the sixth Director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), which provides budgetary and policy analysis to the U.S. Congress. During his tenure, CBO assisted Congress as they addressed numerous policies—notably the 2003 tax cuts (the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act), the 2003 Medicare prescription drug bill (the Medicare Modernization Act), and the 2005 push for Social Security reform. During 2007 and 2008, Dr. Holtz-Eakin was Director of Domestic and Economic Policy for the John McCain presidential campaign. After that, he was a Commissioner on the congressionally-chartered Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission. As VP of Housing Policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Bailey oversees the Center's work to protect and expand access to affordable housing for people with low incomes. Prior to becoming VP for Housing Policy, Bailey served as the Director of "Connect the Dots: Bridging Systems for Better Health," a Center initiative that identifies opportunities to strengthen the link between housing programs and health policy. Journal

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