Cisneros & Kemp: A New Agency Is Needed to Enforce Fair Housing

"The system doesn't work," former Housing and Urban Development secretary Henry Cisneros said at a news briefing on the 85-page report prepared by the commission, which was co-chaired by Cisneros and former HUD secretary Jack Kemp.

Cisneros said stronger HUD enforcement is needed in the interim until a separate agency can be created, saying, "This is the only way to address serious problems of housing segregation and discrimination that led us to our current foreclosure crisis."

Ultimately, the panel said Congress and the Obama administration must create an independent agency that would be free of inherent conflicts of interest at HUD.