Learning from the Past

This paper, written for Furman Center at New York University in May 2008 by New America Foundation's Ellen Seidman and the Center for American Progress' Andrew Jakabovics, discusses asset disposition lessons learned from previous financial crises -- including the activities of the New Deal-era Home Owners Loan Corporation, the Resolution Trust Corporation formed in the wake of the savings and loan crisis, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development's more recent Asset Control Area program to dispose of foreclosed properties acquired through the Federal Housing Administration.

As Congress weighs the various strengths and weaknesses of creating a new Resolution Trust Corporation to address the current crisis, we believe this paper is of renewed use and relevance. While much of the focus in the coming days will deal with acquisition of distressed mortgages and other debts, the inevitable need to have a strategy to deal with properties acquired through foreclosure by an RTC-like entity must also be in place from the outset.

For the full text, please see the attached PDF below.