Washington, DC -- Mayors, members of Congress, housing policy experts, and representatives of the public health, public education, senior citizen, labor, and business communities attending a National Housing Forum today urged the Bush Administration and Congress to pay more attention to the nation's affordable housing crisis.

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"The nation's affordable housing crisis should be on everyone's radar screen right now, but it is not," said Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino, President of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, which organized the forum. "The Bush Administration and Congress need to pay attention to the housing crisis and do something to relieve the financial hardship of the millions of Americans living in substandard housing, struggling to pay rent, or denied even the dream of owning a home of their own. We must work together to preserve the housing we have and produce the housing we need."

Participants at the forum are meeting in working groups to assemble a comprehensive set of recommendations to address specific housing priorities, including:

• Homeownership - The highest homeownership rate in history has left minorities behind and purchasing a first home is an impossible financial challenge for many.
• Rental housing - A critical problem for low- and moderate-income individuals and families, with many paying more than half of household income for rent.
• Public housing - Much of this housing stock is in need of rehabilitation, and its importance and effectiveness is widely misunderstood.
• Preservation of low-income housing - Low-income housing is threatened by market forces.

The recommendations will be presented to members of Congress and U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Mel Martinez tomorrow at 8:30 a.m. when he addresses the forum.

"The high cost of housing in San Francisco is legendary, but, make no mistake about it, this is a national housing crisis," said San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, who chairs the Conference's Community Development and Housing Committee. "Nearly 14 million U.S. households now spend more than half their income to cover rent or a mortgage. And that number will only continue to rise as the supply of affordable housing further tightens - unless the federal government acknowledges the problem and takes action."

In calling attention to the nation's housing crisis, speakers at the forum said that -

• Home prices are growing much faster than incomes, making it impossible for many people to buy a house. Homeownership rates for blacks and Hispanics, around 45%, are far lower than the 73% homeownership rate for whites.
• Low-income, working families need to earn double the current minimum wage to afford a two-bedroom apartment at the federal fair market rent.
• Public and subsidized housing stock is insufficient to meet the demand. The shortfall between demand and supply of public and assisted housing for the very poorest now stands at 3.3 million housing units. Most of the families and individuals waiting for a subsidized apartment are elderly, disabled, or single mothers with children.

Other speakers at the forum include former HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros, Senator Jack Reed, and Rick Lazio, CEO of the Financial Services Forum, and more than a dozen mayors from across the country.

More information about the forum and links to related websites are available at www.usmayors.org.

The U.S. Conference of Mayors is the official nonpartisan organization of cities with populations of 30,000 or more. There are 1,139 such cities in the country today. Each city is represented in the Conference by its chief elected official, the mayor. The primary roles of the Conference of Mayors are to promote the development of effective national urban/suburban policy; strengthen federal-city relationships; ensure that federal policy meets urban needs; provide mayors with leadership and management tools; and create a forum in which mayors can share ideas and information.

Contact:
Andy Solomon (202) 861-6766
Karen Hinton (703) 798-3109

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