HUD's Credit Quotas

It's plain that Donovan, like other housing-rights activists, has not learned any lessons from the subprime scandal. He's also in denial about HUD's role in it, arguing that the affordable housing goals it foisted on Fannie and Freddie were not the cause of their collapse.

Rather, he claims, the mortgage giants underwrote risky subprime loans and securities simply to increase profits.

But officials with both firms swear their hands were forced by HUD. They testified they had to lower their underwriting standards and absorb substantial costs to meet HUD's political mandates. That, of course, is no way to make a profit.