Transcripts

"Commentary"-What's Good About The Housing Crisis

SUSIE GHARIB: Tonight's commentator says there's a silver lining of sorts in the housing crisis. She's Alice Rivlin, former vice chair of the Federal Reserve and senior fellow at Brookings.

ALICE RIVLIN, SENIOR FELLOW, BROOKINGS: If you think the bursting housing bubble is an unmitigated disaster, think again. A seller's loss is a buyer's gain. Many urban areas with strong housing markets have become unaffordable to ordinary working people. Workers in stores, offices, restaurants and construction endure exhausting commutes to far suburbs to find an affordable home. Teachers, police, firefighters, nurses and medical technicians live long distances from the communities they serve and the skyrocketing price of gas has made their commutes increasingly costly.

The housing slump, painful as it is for many current homeowners, will have two positive effects. First, it will slow the sprawl of cities into the far exurbs that adds to congestion, pollution and time on the road. Second, it will make living closer to work more affordable for millions of families. The market will accomplish most of the change without public intervention. But community land trusts also have a chance with state and Federal help to buy distressed properties at bargain prices. They can fix up homes, save neighborhoods from the blight of vacant and vandalized dwellings and rent or sell them to low and moderate income workers. This ill wind could blow many families into more convenient, affordable housing. I'm Alice Rivlin.