Homeownership Advantages Questioned by FDIC Chief

It's National Home Ownership Month, prompting lots of talk about the value of owning a home. The rhetoric isn't all bubbly.

Sheila Bair, the outspoken head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, recently questioned the government's role in promoting homeownership. The speech wasn't widely covered, but The New York Times' Joe Nocera drew attention to it in a column headlined "Wake-Up Time for a Dream."

"Sustainable home ownership is a worthy national goal," Bair told the Housing Association of Nonprofit Developers. "But it should not be pursued to excess when there are other, equally worthy solutions that help meet the needs of people for whom home ownership may not be the right answer."

Nocera calls her comments "a bit of honest heresy."