Homeownership doesn't just provide people a place to live. It also enables them to accumulate wealth by saving more and building equity in their homes.

The conference "Preserving Homeownership: Addressing the Foreclosure Issue, “held in Dallas in June, opened with a panel of Texas researchers who addressed the impact foreclosures are having on the U.S. and Texas economies.

The Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) has been under much scrutiny amid the subprime lending bust. Critics of the CRA contend that the law pushed banking institutions to undertake high-risk mortgage lending. A Federal Reserve Board staff analysis finds that the CRA was neither a source nor driver...