While Mr. Cisneros says he remains proud of his work, he has misgivings over what his passion has wrought. He insists that the worst problems developed only after \u201cbad actors\u201d\u009d hijacked his good intentions but acknowledges that \u201cpeople came to homeownership who should not have been homeowners.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
They were lured by \u201cunscrupulous participants \u201d\u201d bankers, brokers, secondary market people,\u201d\u009d he says. \u201cThe country is paying for that, and families are hurt because we as a society did not draw a line.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
The causes of the housing implosion are many: lax regulation, financial innovation gone awry, excessive debt, raw greed. The players are also varied: bankers, borrowers, developers, politicians and bureaucrats.<\/p>\n
Mr. Cisneros, 61, had a foot in a number of those worlds. Despite his qualms, he encouraged the unprepared to buy homes \u201d\u201d part of a broad national trend with dire economic consequences.<\/p>\n
He reflects often on his role in the debacle, he says, which has changed homeownership from something that secured a place in the middle class to something that is ejecting people from it. \u201cI\u2019ve been waiting for someone to put all the blame at my doorstep,\u201d\u009d he says lightly, but with a bit of worry, too.<\/p>\n