Research-Oriented Leadership Welcomed

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HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research (PD&R) is pleased to welcome Raphael Bostic as our new Assistant Secretary. He comes to us from the University of Southern California (USC) where, most recently, he held a professorship in the School of Policy, Planning, and Development. Dr. Bostic is an expert on housing and homeownership, and studies the roles that credit markets, financing, and policy play in enhancing household access to economic and social amenities. His research record features studies of key issues associated with credit scoring, automated underwriting, mortgage and small business lending, bank branching patterns, the Community Reinvestment Act, gentrification, and the effects of antidiscrimination laws on minority homeownership achievement.

Our new Assistant Secretary, Raphael Bostic, is committed to an evidence-based approach to housing and urban policies that will strengthen our communities.

Assistant Secretary Bostic's most recent work examines how mortgage finance institutions, such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, have influenced the flow of mortgage credit through lenders that mainly originate high cost or subprime loans, and through the Federal Housing Administration insurance program. He has also studied the role of the private label secondary market in facilitating the flow of capital to subprime and predatory loans.

In his presentation to the United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs on 22 May 2009, which follows, Dr. Bostic shared his vision for PD&R:

Perhaps for the first time in this nation's history, housing has been at the root of our macroeconomic troubles. This means that a deep understanding of housing markets is critical, and evidence on what does and does not work in these markets will be essential for creating a new market structure that endures and corrects the weaknesses that helped to create the current troubles.

HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan is leading the way toward a research-based federal strategy for ending homelessness. Addressing the National Alliance to End Homelessness Annual Conference recently, Donovan announced that HUD would track real-time quarterly changes in homelessness in regions across the nation. Donovan appealed for data from communities everywhere to help bring the picture of homelessness into sharper focus.

Secretary Donovan recognizes this and places a considerable emphasis on the importance of collecting and using data to make informed decisions. In my position as Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, I will work hard to see that this vision is pursued and achieved to further the Department’s mission as an efficient, informed leader of policy on issues associated with housing and urban development. A key goal is for PD&R efforts to contribute to a deeper and more meaningful understanding of the issues facing our housing and urban markets and communities.

From an academic perspective, my research has given me knowledge and insights about both housing and urban development, and this, combined with my continual and intensive interaction with other academic scholars, will allow me to promote the implementation of evidencebased policy. My training and perspectives gained as an academic researcher have given me skills that will help ensure that research and program evaluations produced or funded by PD&R are relevant, timely, and of the highest quality.

Throughout my career, I have interacted extensively with all of the key HUD constituencies and am able to add that value and perspective to HUD’s research, policymaking, and oversight efforts. I understand housing and housing finance through my research and my work at the Federal Reserve Board. I know the nuts and bolts of affordable housing development, as well as the difficulties and opportunities it affords for lower-income and minority households, through my teaching at USC, service as a board member of a local nonprofit housing developer, and research. My work with a local community development organization in East Palo Alto, and other research I have done, has provided insights into the challenges of broadbased urban and community development. My role as director of a real estate development program required my participation in all aspects of the development process, and forced me to engage and understand how design, law, economics, finance, and construction all interact. Of particular significance, my exposure to construction highlighted the key role that engineering and technology can play in helping to make housing affordable and high quality.

In my work at the Federal Reserve Board and at HUD, I have seen how policy is created at the federal level, and am familiar with the operational dynamics of PD&R. I am committing this knowledge base to the policymaking milieu and to effective decisionmaking and promotion of ideas that will benefit the American people. At this pivotal moment in its history, I am eager to support the healing of the nation's housing markets and promote the flourishing of its urban areas.

Please join us in welcoming Dr. Bostic to HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research, and in wishing him a long and productive tenure as Assistant Secretary.