Schumer's Loan

As Mayor Bloomberg scouts for support on raising taxes, quite possibly including the property tax, Senator Schumer is announcing today the extension of a Fannie Mae housing subsidy in Nassau and Suffolk county. This initiative allows income-eligible families to make extremely low down payments — ranging from nothing to 3% — on the purchase of a home.

The extension is of the maximum income to qualify for this program, from 100% of the region's area median income to 165%. Mr. Schumer's press release on the matter states that "Raising the eligible income level slightly means a substantial number of struggling, hard-working families previously ineligible but no less deserving, will be able to get help in buying homes." This is the "buy-them-off" approach that Mr. Schumer also favors with respect to college tuition aid, expanding subsidies once reserved to the poor straight through to the middle class.

Similar housing programs have led to numerous foreclosures in the counties of Kings and Queens. In Long Island, wealthier participants in the program will doubtless have less difficulties in keeping up with their payments, but why exactly they should be eligible for subsidized housing is unclear to us. One entity this program is almost certainly good for is Fannie Mae, the big political contributor that will help announce the program today. The "F" in Fannie is for federal, and, though Fannie insists it's independent, you can bet it's the federal taxpayers who will be paying for an eventual bailout. The program may also have the effect of enticing families to leave New York City. In other words, while Mayor Bloomberg is indeed getting ready to raise taxes in town, Mr. Schumer is using the taxing power to make it cheaper to buy in the 'burbs.