Since 1968 Fannie Mae, the nation's largest financial institution and a major force in the housing market, has provided more than $1.5 trillion in housing financing. Fannie Mae's chairman and CEO James A. Johnson - the most significant leader in our country's housing finance system - has dedicated his organization to reducing housing costs, eliminating mortgage discrimination, and expanding opportunities for the millions of Americans who dream of owning their own homes. In this book, Johnson explains the major forces shaping current patterns of home ownership and describes new ways of making homes more affordable to all Americans. He shows how recent forces like the investor-based mortgage system, advances in technology, changing demographics, and other factors are converging to create the greatest increase in home ownership since the post-World War II housing boom.Johnson reveals the details of the plans Fannie Mae is pursuing in order to increase home ownership, strengthen the housing industry and boost the economy. He relates the history of home ownership to the cultural, economic, and political landscape of the United States. And his exploration of discrimination and the many other barriers that keep people from buying homes today will be of particular interest to real estate executives, mortgage bankers, community leaders, policy makers, and potential home owners. Read Less