HUD moves away from 'ownership society'

WASHINGTON, Aug. 16 (UPI) -- The Obama administration is moving away from encouraging low-income Americans to buy homes, instead spending $4.25 billion on new rental units, officials say.

The White House decision to pump the federal stimulus funds into the Department of Housing and Urban Development's low-rise rental apartment program is a clear ideological break with the administration of former President George W. Bush, whose policies of making mortgages available to low-income home buyers fell victim to the mortgage crisis, The Boston Globe reported Sunday.

The collapse of the for-sale housing market has left many low-income people holding mortgages they can no longer afford, becoming victims of skyrocketing foreclosure rates, and has led HUD to reassess the Bush-era goals of an "ownership society," the Globe said.

"We're trying to have a balanced policy," Carol Galante, HUD's assistant secretary for multifamily housing, told the newspaper, adding that the agency will also be using the stimulus funds to buy foreclosed homes that can be refurbished and rented to low- and moderate-income families at affordable rates.

Conservative critics, however, told the Globe that rent payments in some cases can be more expensive than mortgages for low-income residents.