If we don't focus on building new housing, the nation's headed for a crisis larger than the one we've already seen.

That's the warning made by First Trust Advisors Chief Economist Brian Wesbury in a recent interview with Steve Forbes.

Nationally, "we need 1.5 million houses per year just to keep up with population growth," he says. "And then if you throw in, you know, fires and tear-downs and just worn-out properties, we need 1.6 million or more per year.

"Right now, we’re down to about six and a half, seven months' inventory whether you look at new homes or existing homes."

Two recent reports suggest loan modification efforts will delay, not prevent, home foreclosures — and those foreclosures will lower home prices for the next several years.

Those conclusions come from studies issued by John Burns Real Estate Consulting Inc. and Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC.

Read more about the studies at the Wall Street Journal.

AOL News published an opinion piece yesterday by U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), and David Abromowitz, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and partner at Goulston & Storrs in Boston.

"Foreclosures dominate the news," they write, but "there's a larger and more worrisome housing crisis ahead: a looming shortage of affordable rental housing.

"One credible estimate is that over the next 30 years, we may need to add more than 50 million new housing units of all types to meet the demand.

"Are we on track to meet this need? The short answer is no. But it is possible to do so."

The Barre-Montpelier Times Argus published an opinion piece today by former VHFA Board of Commissioners Chairman Richard White.

In the piece, titled "State conservation board's work is essential," Richard writes, "It is no accident that Vermont ranks last in the country in the rate of foreclosure or that the 2004 study of Vermont's housing nonprofits had high praise for the system that Vermont has built over the last quarter century.

"Our local banks engaged in responsible lending, and regional housing agencies have provided homeownership counseling and foreclosure intervention work for years.