Hmmm...sound familiar?

Here is a snippet from an article in the Real Estate Examiner in 1999.

"In a move that could help increase home ownership rates among minorities and low-income consumers, the Fannie Mae Corporation is easing the credit requirements on loans that it will purchase from banks and other lenders.
The action, which will begin as a pilot program involving 24 banks in 15 markets — including the New York metropolitan region — will encourage those banks to extend home mortgages to individuals whose credit is generally not good enough to qualify for conventional loans. Fannie Mae officials say they hope to make it a nationwide program by next spring.
Fannie Mae, the nation’s biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people and felt pressure from stock holders to maintain its phenomenal growth in profits.
In addition, banks, thrift institutions and mortgage companies have been pressing Fannie Mae to help them make more loans to so-called subprime borrowers. These borrowers whose incomes, credit ratings and savings are not good enough to qualify for conventional loans, can only get loans from finance companies that charge much higher interest rates — anywhere from three to four percentage points higher than conventional loans."

End of snippet. Now here is another one that ran TODAY in the Union-Trib.

"As many as 300 low-and middle-income households in San Diego County will be the beneficiaries of more than $17 million in federal aid designed to clean up neighborhoods hard hit by foreclosures and to provide affordable housing opportunities.
While hardly a cure-all given the magnitude of the region's foreclosure problem, the money is expected to turn hundreds of renters into home owners as well as deeply subsidize the rents of some of the county's lowest-income households.
The funds coming to the county were allocated by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development from a nearly $4 billion pot set aside for “neighborhood stabilization,” which was contained within the Housing and Economic Recovery Act signed into law last summer.
In San Diego County, the largest share of the money – $9.4 million – went to the city of San Diego, followed by the county of San Diego, which received $5.1 million. Also a recipient was the city of Chula Vista, which was awarded $2.8 million.
While each of the jurisdictions has a slightly different program, the idea behind each is to provide qualified buyers with zero-interest deferred loans that would cover up to roughly 25 percent of the cost of a home.

Does this sound familiar? Are we really going to repeat all of this? Comments? Anyone? Bueller?

SOURCE: TheRealEstatebloggers.com and San Diego-Union Tribune.