It is widely believed that a major cause of the financial crisis and economic collapse that began in 2008 was the extension of home loans to people who could not afford them. The Clinton and Bush Administrations have been criticized for promoting policies of loose home lending backed by federal guarantees. Today, it's harder for people with weak credit to get a home loan. But according to this article by Zachary Goldberg the Obama Administration wants to change course, at least to some degree. It wants home loan credit loosened to spur the economy and allow lower-income people and home buyers without a credit history to share in the (now weak) economic recovery. Here's an excerpt:

The Obama administration is engaged in a broad push to make more home loans available to people with weaker credit, an effort that officials say will help power the economic recovery but that skeptics say could open the door to the risky lending that caused the housing crash in the first place. ... [A]dministration officials say they are working to get banks to lend to a wider range of borrowers by taking advantage of taxpayer-backed programs — including those offered by the Federal Housing Administration — that insure home loans against default. [Federal] Housing officials are urging the Justice Department to provide assurances to banks, which have become increasingly cautious, that they will not face legal or financial recriminations if they make loans to riskier borrowers who meet government standards but later default.