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10 VOTERS BLAME BANKS FOR DENYING AMERICAN DREAM A little more than half of Americans think it is too difficult to buy a home, especially for non- whites, and they don't trust banks will help them achieve the American Dream, according to a new poll conducted by New York-based consulting firm Douglas E. Schoen. Schoen's latest report, which polled 1,000 potential voters for this November's presidential election, highlights a broad unrest in the perception of the American housing market, where would-be buyers distrust banks and feel like the system is rigged. According to the numbers, 53 percent of Americans surveyed said a home was too difficult to buy. Broken further, 69 percent of "all people of color" said they couldn't buy a home. e largest single group feeling left out of the picture was Hispanic respondents, 78 percent of whom feel that homeownership is out of the picture for them. Forty-one percent of respondents agreed with the statement, "Banks don't want to provide mortgages to people like me." Fifty-one percent blame banks for the lack of access to home ownership, while about 30 percent blame Congress and the GSEs. At the same time, 45 percent of those surveyed said it is up to banks to fix the problem. Less than 35 percent said it should be up to governments or the GSEs. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, in fact, were in slight favor for respondents. According to Schoen, 55 percent of those surveyed had a favorable view of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, while 37 percent held an unfavorable view. Seventy percent said they would like to see Congress and the federal government do something to make mortgages more widely available. Interestingly enough, reports have surfaced that a draft of the Republican platform calls for the elimination of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac while scaling back the government's role in the housing market and implementing tougher underwriting standards for mortgage loans. When asked about the net worth sweep of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the federal policy that diverts all GSE profits to the government's revenue stream) in the Schoen survey, 47 percent of likely voters said the sweep "is a violation of shareholder rights, and takes funds that could be used to increase the availability of mortgages," Schoen reported. "Further, black voters are the most likely to consider the net worth sweep part of a rigged system." According to Schoen, 52 percent of black voters said the sweep is unfair to Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's shareholders; and 71 percent of black voters support shareholder rights over government interests, the highest of any group, the report stated. Despite the obvious disillusionment in Schoen's findings, voters still believe that homeownership is both a good investment with financial benefits. In fact, 58 percent of those surveyed said so, while 57 percent said owning a home is still a hefty piece of the emotional promise of owning a home. WHAT COULD HOUSING LOOK LIKE WITH MIKE PENCE AS VP? Mike Pence, Governor of Indiana, has confirmed that he has been selected as Donald Trump's running mate in the 2016 presidential elections. ough Pence has cautiously supported Trump (after initially endorsing Ted Cruz) throughout his campaign, how do Pence's ideas on housing compare to Trump's? Trump has not made housing issues a centerpiece of his campaign, but from what is known, he plans to discontinue funding of at least some government housing programs and work to ease the current regulatory framework. For example, he has specifically alluded to the possibility of eliminating HUD. Pence's past actions can give us some insight into where his housing priorities lie. Indiana, where Pence serves as governor, was one of the states hit hardest during the financial crisis. By January 2015, vacant homes was an exponential problem for the state. In response, Pence passed a vacant housing statute preventing municipalities from passing ordinances on vacant homes and protecting banks holding liens from regulations requiring their maintenance. "Really, the bottom line is we have made a dramatic effort to allow the local government to be the catalyst to clean up neighborhoods," state Senator Jim Merritt, an Indianapolis Republican who sponsored the bill, said at the time. "It makes it a quicker process and a cleaner process." Further, under Pence's watch the Indiana legislature initiated the Blight Elimination Program (BEP) to assist local government units in Indiana with foreclosure prevention. is program is sponsored by the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority, a state government housing program. Pence's housing priorities may actually more closely align with Hillary Clinton's than Trump's. On the Democratic side, Clinton has stated that 20 percent of her proposed $125 billion Economic Revitalization Initiative would be targeted towards facilitating homeownership among households that have been traditionally underserved. According to her website, "She will also reduce barriers to lending in underserved communities," and "support housing counseling programs." She has also intimated that she will "provide the resources necessary to overcome blight, giving communities a chance to rebuild and renew with new businesses, new homeowners, and new hope." So the question becomes: "How will Pence reconcile his past administrative priorities with Trump's desire to reduce the size and scope of the federal government?" e answer is that we don't know yet. Knowing the deferential nature of the office of the Vice President and the fact that Trump's larger-than-life persona tends to suck all of the oxygen out of the room, it's unclear whether Pence will have any real policy influence in a prospective Trump administration. Perhaps the answer is that programs such as the ones that Pence enacted during his time as Indiana's governor would be kept at the state level under President Trump. But mortgage professionals would be well advised to pay close attention to this election cycle. No matter the outcome, change is most likely coming in some form.

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