The housing industry is still making its way into national headlines this year — this time, it’s the Federal Housing Administration’s lending program.

In more than 40 years as an architect, Don Comstock has seen the profession weather some rough periods.

I’m not one to study a problem to death. I’m usually in favor of action rather than talk, pragmatic solutions rather than unending analysis.

For decades, the contours of the Capital Region economy seemed etched in stone. Government, manufacturing and construction employed the bulk of the population. After the boom and bust of the past decade, however, the job profile of the future could be almost unrecognizable.

When boom went bust in Truckee, the mountain town wasn’t left empty-handed. Everywhere you look are reminders of the high times in the ski town’s real estate market — not only new homes, but new trails, a community center, a new middle school and affordable housing; the list goes on.

Several new doors have opened in the Tahoe area the past five years, but few are as grand as those at the $300 million Ritz-Carlton at Northstar.

Five years ago, Truckee’s Martis Camp fell out of the hands of land planners and golf-course designers and into the hands of lawyers.

Several projects are in the pipeline that could strengthen the Port of West Sacramento as a hub of green activity as soon as 2011.

Last November, San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President Janet Yellen gave a speech on the national economy and put the prospects for the commercial real estate market in stark perspective.

There’s an old joke that no two economists can agree on the economy, but as the nation, California and the Capital Region continue to weather the worst downturn since the Great Depression, economists are showing remarkable solidarity: They think we’re in a mess.