GWB tried starting in 2004 to mitigate the housing crash. The Democrats, led by Chris Dodd and Barney Frank, successfully demagogued the issue and shut him down. They denied that there was any crisis, insisted that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were solvent, all the way up into 2007 when it was no longer possible to ignore. As to the Ownership Society, that's basically the purpose of the HUD mandate that started with Carter. It's a noble goal, helping the working poor to own their own homes as an important part of the American Dream. Only problem was that Congress continually raised the goals, the percentage of loans made to low income or minority or otherwise "disadvantaged" borrowers. In any market, there are some people who are just below the threshold of affording their own homes; those people can be underwritten by the rest of us with some societal benefits. Had HUD stopped there, but Congress (both parties) insisted HUD should do more for the poor and minorities. Increasingly, that higher percentage had to include people who could not possibly afford a home in their area. That led to relaxation and then removal of any sane qualifications such as qualifications and verification of income, employment, and credit history of the borrower, and standardized third party appraisals of the property, and standards of the loans themselves. At that point the housing market crash was inevitable. None of that came specifically from GWB, and all of it came from good intentions, NOT an intention to loot.