Was the departing HUD chief to blame for the housing mess?

Recently I've been seeing more blame for the housing & mortgage crisis laid at the feet of the Bush Administration's relentless focus on increasing homeownership rates with a type of USSR-type attitude of "The ends justifies the means" that ignored potential consequences. According to a story at MSNBC, the primary culprit of that policy was departing HUD chief Alphonso Jackson:

In late 2006, as economists warned of an imminent housing market collapse, housing Secretary Alphonso Jackson repeatedly insisted that the mounting wave of mortgage failures was a short-term "correction."

He pushed for legislation that would make it easier for federally backed lenders to make mortgage loans to risky borrowers who put less money down. He issued a rule that was criticized by law enforcement authorities because it could increase the difficulty of detecting and proving mortgage fraud.

As Jackson leaves office this week, much of the attention on his tenure has been focused on investigations into whether his agency directed housing contracts to his friends and political allies. But critics say an equally significant legacy of his four years as the nation's top housing officer was gross inattention to the looming housing crisis...

During Jackson's years on the job, foreclosures for loans insured by HUD's Federal Housing Administration (FHA) have risen and default rates have hit a record high...

Jackson, who declined to be interviewed, will be remembered as a Cabinet secretary so committed to carrying out President Bush's goal of increasing homeownership that he encouraged policies that threatened to exacerbate the mortgage crisis, according to interviews with more than 30 current and former HUD officials and housing experts, and a review of numerous HUD documents and audits...

In the policy arena, Jackson quickly made known his loyalty to Bush and his determination to help increase the number of U.S. homeowners by at least 5 million. Loans by FHA-approved lenders accounted for less than 10 percent of the overall market in the past five years, but its loan programs were supposed to be targeted to low- and moderate-income individuals, many of them first-time buyers.

In 2006, Jackson proposed plans to modernize the FHA lending process. Backed by the White House, his proposal would allow FHA lenders to offer loans with no down payment, eliminating the long-standing 3 percent minimum. Lenders also could increase the size of the loan to cover the median home price in high-cost areas. High-risk borrowers could qualify by agreeing to pay higher premiums.

Jackson said the goals were to encourage first-time home buyers and to help the FHA compete with the booming subprime market. In an online White House forum in 2007, he said the FHA "is undergoing a historic transformation to give homebuyers who do not qualify for prime financing a better alternative to high-cost, high-risk loan products."...

Members of Congress who oversee HUD said Jackson's emphasis on pushing homeownership -- without many brakes -- ignored the root of the mortgage crisis.

"Homeownership appears to be a bigger priority in the administration than affordability and foreclosure," Sen. Christopher S. Bond (R-Mo.) told Jackson at a recent hearing. He added: "I'll tell you quite frankly, I think the emphasis on homeownership helped to drive the foreclosure crisis we're now in. . . . All these wonderful ideas . . . didn't do them any good when we put them in housing they couldn't afford."...

Inside HUD, numerous staffers said, Jackson made clear that he believed overregulating and investigating mortgage lenders could harm the president's homeownership goals...

Enforcement seemed to be a low priority for HUD in both staffing and budget, according to agency observers. David Berenbaum, executive vice president at the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, an association working to prevent foreclosures and abusive lending, said HUD is supposed to be the government's lead enforcer of fair-lending laws. The laws prohibit financial discrimination and exploitation of minority borrowers, who took out a disproportionate share of the subprime loans. Berenbaum said HUD largely paid nonprofits to monitor compliance with fair-lending laws...

Jackson had insisted he would stay in office until the end of Bush's term. But last month, several Democratic senators who hold HUD's purse strings called for his resignation. He had refused to answer their questions about allegations that he was engaged in political favoritism and cronyism. A federal grand jury is investigating whether Jackson lied to Congress about his involvement in contracts and whether he steered millions of dollars in government work at the Virgin Islands and New Orleans housing authorities to his friends...

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), head of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that oversees HUD, said March 21 that Jackson had become unfit to lead the agency.

"We are in the midst of a national housing crisis," she said. "The allegations of cronyism and favoritism against Secretary Jackson are a worsening distraction at HUD at a time when we must have a credible housing secretary that is beyond suspicion."

Sounds like a different version of the Katrina fiasco all over again.

Let's hope when people vote in November for President they'll consider more than just someone with whom they'd want to share a beer, because we've seen the consequences of that type of vacuous analysis over and over again -- disaster.