mr. luke meyer and then came to the better side of the state and spent time in kansas city. and so we're here today with the hearing entitled "the future of housing in america, oversight of the department of housing and urban development." it's always important to look to the future and hopefully this hearing will deal with the future more than the past or otherwise we are like somebody trying to drive a car looking through the rear-view mirror. i think we've got to go to the future, figure out the things that we can do that would be important. but if we look at the past i think it's important for us to think about the fact that when the economy teetered on the brink of cataclysmic collapse in 2008, the housing market was decimated, some families lost generations of wealth and unemployment skyrocketed. home sales ground to a halt. and in the seven years since our economy has slowly improved. last week, as they do every month, the bureau of labor statistics announced the economy added 280,000 new jobs and the 63rd consecutive month of private sector job creation. private sect