Welcome to the Liveblog! | Feb 11th at 4:14pm
Over the next two days, a total of seven different voices will be documenting the conference A Crisis is a Terrible Thing to Waste: Transforming America’s Housing Policy. The agenda for the event couldn’t be more exciting — it’s clear that a lot of thought went into determining the most essential topics.
We have five major panels in store: 1) Connecting the Dots Between Housing, Transportation, Energy and the Environment; 2) From Front Yards to Schoolyards: Linking Housing Policy and School Reform; 3) Where Do We Go From Here?: The Future of Fannie and Freddie; 4) Reclaiming the Promise of Homeownership: New Models to Help First-Time
Homebuyers Achieve Stability and Build Wealth; 5) Affordable Rental Housing Programs: Building Real Opportunities for Families
Additional speeches will be made by Shaun Donovan, Secretary of HUD; Bruce Katz, Vice President and Director of the Metropolitan Policy Project, The Brookings Institution; and others.
But this liveblog is meant to do more than praise — there should be some healthy doses of skepticism. It’s clear that a crisis can be an opportunity for change — but how do we discuss the best steps forward when there’s so much uncertainty about what the economy will look like at the end of 2009?
Diana Lind is editor in chief of Next American City.
