Berna Yigit Brannon

The current -- and predicted future -- turmoil in the mortgage market highlights an important challenge to the American dream of homeownership: how to make certain that those who enter into homeownership are able to sustain that status, protecting family stability and building equity in a critical asset. Thirty years ago, those who owned homes had fixed rate mortgages and substantial equity, and foreclosure was a rare event. However, many Americans were denied the opportunity to… more

This event is co-hosted by AARP, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, CFED, National Disability Institute, The Retirement Security Project, Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, and World Institute on Disabilities.

As more and more Americans are expected to save for their own futures, millions of low-income individuals get conflicting messages from their government: Save, and don't save. Over the last decade a consensus has been emerging among researchers, policymakers, and practitioners about the importance of… more

Whether the objective is to promote retirement security, improve educational attainment, provide a financial cushion for life transitions, or increase national savings, the need to increase household savings is vitally clear. As is well known, the personal savings rate in the United States has been falling for nearly two decades and became negative two years ago, a level not seen since the Great Depression.

In an environment of large budget deficits and bulging entitlement obligations, little revenue can be sacrificed… more

Until early 2008, Berna Yiğit Brannon was the Congressional Liaison for the Asset Building Program at the New America Foundation. She headed the program's policymaker education efforts, in addition to managing the Savings and Ownership Caucuses in the House and Senate, which the program helped launch in February 2005.

Prior… more