A chorus of voices appears to unanimously proclaim that America is in the midst of an affordable housing crisis? Andrew Cuomo asserted the existence of such a crisis in his introduction to a March 2000 report which documents the continuing, growing crisis in housing affordability throughout the nation. Indeed, Secretary Cuomo regularly justified aggressive requests for funding by pointing to this crisis. Pro-poor advocacy groups such as the Housing Assistance Council pepper their documents with assertions that “the federal government should commit to a comprehensive strategy for combating the housing affordability crisis in rural America.” Trade associations such as the National Association of Home Builders decree that “America is facing a silent housing affordability crisis.” The National Association of Realtors agrees: “there is a continuing, growing crisis in housing affordability and homeownership that is gripping our nation.”