At the same time, many a provision grasps at thin air at small institutions. Just take the existing disclosure requirements, which are there to ensure that large publicly traded institutions are subject to public accountability. Yet market discipline hardly has any bearing for small institutions which are not publicly traded – so why force them to satisfy the same provisions?
Ultimately, though, real relief for the mortgage market requires stabilization, and then recovery, in the nation's housing sector. Modernization of the FHA would be of help on this front as well.