A 21-member commission formed by the Bipartisan Policy Center, the brainchild of several former congressional leaders, has been charged to look at what government housing policy in the U.S. should be and to tell us in 2013 what it has figured out.
Seventeen of the 21 were named Tuesday. They include figures from finance, law and policy. No one from the construction industry sites on the panel.
The BPC Housing Commission is supposed to "craft a package of realistic and actionable policy recommendations that will address the future housing needs of an increasingly diverse American society," the BPC announcement said.
Henry Cisneros, federal Housing and Urban Development secretary and one of four commission co-chairs, acknowledged that many housing problems are financial. “The Commission and its members will strive to create a beacon of hope for those citizens that have seen their American Dreams come crashing down in the recent economic collapse," he said.
He did not elaborate on how policy recommendations might integrate the recession's effect.
The commission will hold public forums in San Antonio, Texas, on March 6; Orlando, Fla., on April 17; St. Louis on June 5; and Bangor, Maine, on July 25.
