The housing industry, adrift
Addressing a packed house at the Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) on Tuesday evening, former U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez called for bipartisan solutions to the nation’s housing problems that would largely reduce the role of the federal government and transfer initiative to the private sector. “After the November election, no matter who wins, it is my hope that Republicans and Democrats will work together to repair the housing market,” said Martinez, a Florida Republican who also was secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for several years under President George W. Bush. Martinez delivered the 13th annual John T. Dunlop Lecture, with his topic “America’s Housing Policy: Charting a Course for Recovery.” Introducing Martinez, Eric S. Belsky, managing director of the GSD’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, emphasized that Dunlop, the late Lamont University Professor emeritus, was renowned for his bipartisan spirit, having advised every president from Franklin D. Roosevelt to George...