These should have been the standards along, except for honorably discharged veterans. Homeownership, though a worthy goal, is a privilege earned. It is not a constitutional guarantee.
Problem is housing has gone up a lot. Boomers were able to get a single family home for 29,000 and today that same house is 400K. Totally crazy.
I don’t know that it is a “privilege” earned. The mortgage market was conservative in its lending standards for decades - it was financially prudent for both sides of the table. When the government pushed for relaxation and also came in to bail out the big money bankers (remember the RTC crisis?) then maybe just maybe there was a privilege - but that was extended to the big money - not to the financially prudent homeowner.