law-regulation

Most banks ask executives to coordinate a vast patchwork of regulation in addition to managing their day jobs. They'd be better off putting one person in charge of regulatory communication, remediation and coordination.

Some housing professionals have grown reluctant to participate in the Federal Home Loan Banks' Affordable Housing Program, objecting to burdensome requirements and rules that are inconsistent with other funding sources. It's time for the Federal Housing Finance Agency to make some updates.

Requiring brokers to come clean with customers about conflicts of interest sounds like an easy way to address biases. But disclosures are only effective if recipients understand how the conflict has influenced the advisor and have a way to correct that influence.

The Supreme Court's recent ruling that the disparate impact theory of liability can be applied to the Fair Housing Act means mortgage lenders must be even more vigilant in their ongoing testing and evaluation of business practices that could be interpreted as even unintentional discrimination.

Allowing real estate investment trusts to bridge the capital need for affordable housing could help de-escalate a rising public funding crisis.