The Op-Ed article on Dec. 4 about Jack Kemp stated that the American dream of home ownership is being frustrated by excessive regulation.
Heritage Mortgage up until 1990 was a prominent FHA mortgage lender, with a 20 percent market share of Chicago business south of North Avenue. Located on the South Side and loaning almost exclusively to minorities, our efforts at implementing the objectives of the Federal Housing Authority were rewarded by a series of governmental investigations, administrative actions and interventions that have continued for more than 30 months and occupy virtually all of our management time.
We have been especially targeted for government oversight because of our location in and involvement with a minority market. This would certainly deter anyone from being either an advocate of the FHA program or a believer in the government`s rhetoric about home ownership by minorities.
If it were not clear before that excessive government regulation is undesirable, perhaps our experience will help make that point and show how over-regulation is contributing to the recession.
