Anisha Steephen
@asteephen.bsky.social
Ex-U.S. Treasury, always economic justice. Banking / Tax / Housing / Climate. They/Them.
📍NYC
📍NYC
9/ Homeownership should be a path out of precarity where each payment turns rent to the bank into equity. A 50-year mortgage does the opposite. It converts owners into long-term renters to the bank while doing nothing to fix scarcity, wages, or the structures that lock people out in the first place.
November 10, 2025 at 9:14 PM
9/ Homeownership should be a path out of precarity where each payment turns rent to the bank into equity. A 50-year mortgage does the opposite. It converts owners into long-term renters to the bank while doing nothing to fix scarcity, wages, or the structures that lock people out in the first place.
8/ Non-QM loans often advertise a headline rate that fades once the full terms appear. Higher pricing, fewer protections, slower amortization. The small apparent savings today is overwhelmed by lifetime interest most families do not anticipate.
November 10, 2025 at 9:14 PM
8/ Non-QM loans often advertise a headline rate that fades once the full terms appear. Higher pricing, fewer protections, slower amortization. The small apparent savings today is overwhelmed by lifetime interest most families do not anticipate.
7/ First-time buyers are older than ever, hovering around forty. If you buy at forty with a fifty-year mortgage the last payment arrives near ninety. For Black and Latino households that already enter homeownership later because of systemic barriers, this widens the wealth gap rather than closing it
November 10, 2025 at 9:14 PM
7/ First-time buyers are older than ever, hovering around forty. If you buy at forty with a fifty-year mortgage the last payment arrives near ninety. For Black and Latino households that already enter homeownership later because of systemic barriers, this widens the wealth gap rather than closing it
6/ Many working families also carry PMI in the early years. Slower principal reduction keeps PMI around longer while interest keeps piling up. The lower payment looks friendly today but not tomorrow.
November 10, 2025 at 9:14 PM
6/ Many working families also carry PMI in the early years. Slower principal reduction keeps PMI around longer while interest keeps piling up. The lower payment looks friendly today but not tomorrow.
5/ Homeownership should build economic security through equity. After 10 years:
30-year ≈ $65.3k principal paid
50-year ≈ $17.3k principal paid
That moves wealth building to a crawl.
30-year ≈ $65.3k principal paid
50-year ≈ $17.3k principal paid
That moves wealth building to a crawl.
November 10, 2025 at 9:14 PM
5/ Homeownership should build economic security through equity. After 10 years:
30-year ≈ $65.3k principal paid
50-year ≈ $17.3k principal paid
That moves wealth building to a crawl.
30-year ≈ $65.3k principal paid
50-year ≈ $17.3k principal paid
That moves wealth building to a crawl.
4/ On $400,000 at 6% (principal and interest only):
30-year ≈ $2,398/mo, total interest ≈ $463k
50-year ≈ $2,106/mo, total interest ≈ $863k
You “save” ≈ $293/mo and pay ≈ $400k more over the life of the mortgage to the bank for the privilege of a smaller monthly bill.
30-year ≈ $2,398/mo, total interest ≈ $463k
50-year ≈ $2,106/mo, total interest ≈ $863k
You “save” ≈ $293/mo and pay ≈ $400k more over the life of the mortgage to the bank for the privilege of a smaller monthly bill.
November 10, 2025 at 9:14 PM
4/ On $400,000 at 6% (principal and interest only):
30-year ≈ $2,398/mo, total interest ≈ $463k
50-year ≈ $2,106/mo, total interest ≈ $863k
You “save” ≈ $293/mo and pay ≈ $400k more over the life of the mortgage to the bank for the privilege of a smaller monthly bill.
30-year ≈ $2,398/mo, total interest ≈ $463k
50-year ≈ $2,106/mo, total interest ≈ $863k
You “save” ≈ $293/mo and pay ≈ $400k more over the life of the mortgage to the bank for the privilege of a smaller monthly bill.
3/ Our housing crisis is not a payment puzzle. It is a shortage. We have not built enough homes, and financial speculation has kept prices high. Stretching a loan to fifty years does not create a single new unit; it just lengthens the leash so lenders collect more over a longer horizon.
November 10, 2025 at 9:14 PM
3/ Our housing crisis is not a payment puzzle. It is a shortage. We have not built enough homes, and financial speculation has kept prices high. Stretching a loan to fifty years does not create a single new unit; it just lengthens the leash so lenders collect more over a longer horizon.
2/ Under Dodd-Frank’s Ability-to-Repay and Qualified Mortgage rules, the consumer-protected lane tops out at 30 years. That cap exists because long / exotic terms (i.e. maybe predatory) shifted volatility onto families. A 50-year loan lives in non-QM, with thinner safeguards and often worse pricing.
November 10, 2025 at 9:14 PM
2/ Under Dodd-Frank’s Ability-to-Repay and Qualified Mortgage rules, the consumer-protected lane tops out at 30 years. That cap exists because long / exotic terms (i.e. maybe predatory) shifted volatility onto families. A 50-year loan lives in non-QM, with thinner safeguards and often worse pricing.
(3/3) After a jobs report showing 32,000 private-sector losses in September, this is the worst time to pull investment. A serious leader keeps projects that cut bills and harden the system when electricity costs are rising. Trump is bad for business, bad for families, & bad for the American economy.
October 2, 2025 at 10:05 PM
(3/3) After a jobs report showing 32,000 private-sector losses in September, this is the worst time to pull investment. A serious leader keeps projects that cut bills and harden the system when electricity costs are rising. Trump is bad for business, bad for families, & bad for the American economy.
(2/3) Energy crosses state lines & party lines. Canceling grid upgrades, efficiency, storage, & heat pumps means higher monthly costs, longer outages, & fewer local jobs. Working families & frontline communities get hit first, but everyone pays for a weaker grid. More context in my TIME piece:
Energy Costs are Rising. Trump and Big Tech Are to Blame
On the campaign trail, President Donald Trump promised to cut energy costs in half. Now, energy costs are skyrocketing.
time.com
October 2, 2025 at 10:05 PM
(2/3) Energy crosses state lines & party lines. Canceling grid upgrades, efficiency, storage, & heat pumps means higher monthly costs, longer outages, & fewer local jobs. Working families & frontline communities get hit first, but everyone pays for a weaker grid. More context in my TIME piece: