Gov't now lending public assistance to 'high-income earners' in DC

In the housing bubble of the nation's capital these days, you now may qualify for down-payment assistance on a new home, even if you bring in more than $120,000 per year.

According to the Urban Turf real estate blog, the DC Housing Finance Agency wants to give a leg-up to high earners who haven't bothered to save up money to make a down-payment on a home.  The mortgage assistance program can provide earners up to $123,395/year with a 3.5% on either an FHA-backed loan or a standard loan through Fannie Mae.  In addition, for every year you live in that home, the city promises to erase 20% of the loan's value.  If you stay in your home for five or more years, you owe nothing and the assistance money becomes equity in your home.

"By targeting higher income earners, [the DC Open Doors program]'s a departure from existing home buyer programs that are typically designed for low or middle income households," the blog reports.

I've ranted before about government housing programs designed specifically to put people in homes who can't afford them.  Now, it seems the government is eager to take on even more  of the housing market by doling out checks to those who can afford one.  Such rewards mean the government will gobble up even more of the mortgage market -- another housing bubble waiting to happen.

We just don't learn, do we?