In 2005, Rep. Barney Frank addressed the House of Representatives in which he said "you're not going to see a collapse that you see when people talk about a bubble. Those of us on our committee in particular will continue to push for home ownership."
We have, I think, an excessive degree of concern right now about home ownership and it's role in the economy. Obviously speculation is never a good thing. But those who argue that housing prices are now at the point of a bubble seem to be missing a very important point. Unlike previous example we have had, where substantial, excessive prices may have caused some problems. We are talking here about an entity, home ownership, homes where there is not the degree of leverage that we have seen elsewhere. This is not the dot com situation. We have problems with people having invested in business plans in which there was no reality, and people building fiber optic cable for which there was no need. Homes that are occupied may see an ebb and flow in the price at a certain percentage level, but you're not going to see a collapse that you see when people talk about a bubble. Those of us on our committee in particular will continue to push for home ownership.
However, in May of this year Frank appeared on CNBC in which he said he was "very much in disagreement with this push in home ownership" and that the "Federal government should not be artificially doing that."