"When Vice President Gore announced the formation of the Council on Building Homes in America’s Cities earlier this year, I had just been inaugurated as Mayor î said Louisville Mayor Dave Armstrong during his plenary remarks on the Million Home Initiative of the Conference of Mayors, the National Association of Homebuilders and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Mayor Armstrong represents the Conference of Mayors along with Dayton Mayor Michael Turner and Seattle Mayor Paul Schell on the Council that oversees the initiative that has as its goal the building of 100,000 housing units within a year over the next decade.

Mayor Armstrong said: "Although new to the Mayor’s office, promoting home ownership in my community has been one of my highest priorities during the previous nine years that I served as the County’s Judge Executive.

"I am a firm believer that the overall prosperity of a community depends in large part on the availability, affordability, and quality of housing options, particularly in the inner city. I am also well aware that Louisville, like virtually every community in America, is increasingly threatened by urban sprawl. If not contained, we are at risk of losing the diversity and vitality that makes a city great. Therefore, as Mayor, I have placed a high priority on attracting more new residents, in all income categories, to our city neighborhoods. There is no better way to do this than in partnership with those developers and builders who have been creating the more desirable residential subdivisions in the outlying areas."

Explaining the initiative’s process, Mayor Armstrong said: "The Council will begin with the establishment of pilot programs in a number of designated cities from which models will be developed as part of this national effort. ì

In this partnership with HUD and the homebuilders, "our role, as Mayors, is to do what we do best cut through government red tape, leverage resources, and work with the private sector and HUD.

"In Louisville, I believe the timing is right, and we are in a prime position to spur strong home building in the city once again. Our multi-tiered approach is designed to increase both housing production and choice within the city. One way is by building upon our efforts to stabilize inner city neighborhoods over the past decade. In the Russell neighborhood where we have already created over 200 housing units, both rental an affordable homeownership, we plan to develop a new inner city "subdivision" to bring middle income homeowners back to the city. We will eliminate many of the "barriers" that often make inner-city housing development difficult - land assembly, infrastructure, zoning and building regulations. And our inner-city neighborhood will have the same level of amenities as those found in the suburbs.

"At the same time, we recognize the need for infill housing and we are creating a strategy that takes advantage of the significant federal assistance and early market response to our Park DuValle development. As a Hope VI Initiative, Park DuValle is literally being transformed from one of Louisville’s most notorious inner-city neighborhoods into a highly desirable, mixed income community. With the help of Louisville Community Development Bank and local homebuilders, we are now ready to focus on revitalizing the surrounding neighborhoods by rehabbing existing homes and building on vacant lots.

"Clearly, our most ambitious initiative will be downtown housing. In my budget address last month, I announced an allocation of $3 million to be matched with $1 million in private funds to be used to stimulate the development and redevelopment of market rate housing in the downtown area. Our first step is designating a new downtown housing district just east of the central business district. City owned sites in this area will be made available for housing development in the immediate future. Through the establishment of a downtown housing assistance fund, we’ll provide incentives to get current property owners to start thinking about housing as a viable rehab option.

"My primary goal, in the end, is to bring people back to the city to live. I believe we can do this with strategies that not only create more housing units but also offer a wider range of housing opportunities across all income levels. We can and must work to realize the potential of our inner city neighborhoods and downtowns as unique and special places to live, work, and raise families.

"The Council on Building Homes in America’s Cities provides us with the impetus to forge the public-private partnerships that will revitalize our inner city neighborhoods and reawaken our downtowns.