Washington, DC -- After a daylong National Housing Forum with representatives of the business, labor, housing, senior citizen, public education, and public health communities, the nation's mayors today released a comprehensive set of recommendations to address the country's affordable housing crisis.

Also See... Report: Housing Recommendations Mayor Menino Becomes USCM President Forum Agenda (updated 1/30/2006) Housing Fact Sheet U.S. Facing Affordable Housing Crisis Press Advisory: Mayors, Senator Kerry to Hold 5/22 Press Conference 5/20: Boston Globe: Hope for Housing 5/20: USA Today: Housing crisis 5/19: AP: Housing crisis

Their recommendations, to be presented to HUD Secretary Mel Martinez and members of Congress, include:

• Creating a new national homeownership tax credit to make buying a home more affordable for those with low- and moderate-incomes. About 90 percent of the benefits from the existing mortgage interest tax deduction go to those with incomes over $40,000 per year. A new, targeted tax credit could help some of those people who are currently unable to afford to purchase a home.
• Establishing a national affordable housing trust fund to provide a reliable and dedicated stream of funding to address the housing needs of primarily those with very low incomes. Approximately 200 communities across the country have such funds already.
• Working with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to promote a vast expansion of employer-assisted housing programs for working families. Employer-provided housing assistance benefits both employees and employers, often encouraging employees to stay at their jobs longer.

"We put forth these ideas to help jump start an important national discussion about how best to address our nation's affordable housing crisis," said Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, President of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. "At last, we hope, housing will be back on the national agenda."

Housing costs are rising faster than incomes. Already, more than 14 million American families spend more than half of their income of housing.

More background information about the housing crisis and the complete set of recommendations released today are available on the Conference's website at usmayors.org.

Other mayors who attended the forum and helped put together the recommendations include San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, Columbus (Oh.) Mayor Michael Coleman, Nashville Mayor Bill Purcell, Long Beach (Cal.) Mayor Beverly O'Neill, Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, Fremont (Cal.) Mayor Gus Morrison, Trenton Mayor Douglas Palmer, Akron Mayor Donald Plusquellic, Jackson (Miss.) Mayor Harvey Johnson, Burlington (Vt.) Mayor Peter Clavelle, Stamford (Ct.) Mayor Dannel Malloy, East Cleveland Mayor Emmanuel Onunwor, and North Little Rock (Ark.) Mayor Patrick Henry Hays.

Today's recommendations will be discussed by the over 200 mayors from across the country expected to attend the 70th Annual Meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Madison, Wisconsin on June 14-18. More information about the Annual Meeting is on the web at http://usmayors.org/70thAnnualMeeting/.

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
Lina Garcia (202) 861-6719

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