An old-fashioned case of housing discrimination based on race is emerging in Chicago.

Paul Merrion of Crain’s Chicago Business reports that at the recent Treasury/HUD housing finance conference, the Chicago delegation wanted to talk about renting. Ellen Seidman of Chicago’s ShoreBank (which may be taken over by the FDIC at any moment) and Michael Stegman of the MacArthur Foundation discussed how the government favors home ownership over renting. Seidman argued that quasi-government institutions Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, both still in Treasury Dept. conservatorship, should start to support the rental market.

The tangled web of federal financing that was lashed together to help fund homeowners' energy efficiency projects has unraveled quite quickly. Robert Selna of the San Francisco Chronicle reports that the California Energy Commission is pulling the plug on $30 million set aside for the now in-limbo Property Assessed Clean Energy program or PACE. This, after state officials, including Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger asked federal officials

The Chicago Tribune's Tim Jones reports on shortcomings in Housing and Urban Development's Neighborhood Stabilization Program, a crucial component part of Washington's push back against home foreclosures. Chicago received $155 million from the $6 billion federal program, and proceeded to direct that money to neighborhoods most impacted by foreclosures in 2006 and 2007. Foreclosures have  since spread throughout the city and relatively prosperous neighborhoods like Rogers Park now bear witness to hundreds of suddenly abandoned properties. The HUD money, though, has already been allocated

California mortgage brokers have a little over a week to pass criminal background and credit checks as well as a licensing exam as the state becomes one of the first to adopt new federal regulations, according to John Gittelsohn of Bloomberg. California is one of the 20 or so U.S. states that currently lack any licensing program for mortgage brokers.

[caption id="attachment_9474" align="alignleft" width="95" caption="Jerry Brown"][/caption] Maligned mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may be taken to the woodshed by California's attorney general after the companies warned lenders about supposed dangers associated with energy efficiency loans tied to home mortgages. As Dow Jones Newswires reports in The Wall Street Journal, state Attorney General Jerry Brown said Tuesday he was initiating “major action” against the companies

The Chicago Reporter's Angela Caputo has a terrific investigative piece on how Chicago has dubiously used federal foreclosure relief money.

So much for 'Jingle-mail.' Fannie Mae, the federally chartered and now federally controlled mortgage backer, announced it will start going after those who can afford their mortgages, but walk away anyway, according to E. Scott Reckard of the Los Angeles Times. Jingle-mail (yet another cutesy term in the real estate lexicon), refers to mailing your house keys to your bank, or maybe to some Norwegian village suckered into buying now worthless mortgage-backed securities.

[caption id="attachment_8883" align="alignleft" width="165" caption="A CHA demolition"][/caption] The Chicago Tribune's Daarel Burnette II reports that yesterday the Chicago Housing Authority has opened up its waiting list for the first time since (get ready) 1999. Residents jumped at this once in a decade opportunity: 60,000 people signed-up for public housing in just the first day. Those names are added to the 5,000 people who have been on the list since 1999. Chicagoans may sign up for the waiting list until July 9 . . . but only 40,000 individuals or families will get placed in CHA housing. Why is demand for Chicago public housing so high and supply so low?

Steve Daniels of Crain's Chicago Business reports that a Chicago bank might avoid takeover by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation through the sale of federally-backed securities.