The Community Development and Housing Committee adopted policy resolutions during the Conference of Mayors 68th Annual Conference in Seattle, it heard from a variety of speakers: two top HUD officials, the President of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the staff Vice President of the Mortgage Bankers Association of America and representatives from Money Line America’s Home Ownership Participation Equity Program (H.O.P.E.).

Cardell Cooper, HUD Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development, thanked San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, Chair of the Conference of Mayors Community Development and Housing Committee, for hosting last year’s celebration of the 25th Anniversary of the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program. Assistant Secretary Cooper also informed the mayors of the recent cuts in HUD program by the Appropriations Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives. He said that the cuts were not good for cities.

William Apgar, HUD Assistant Secretary for Housing and Federal Housing Commissioner, briefed the mayors on the department’s challenge to all segments of the housing industry to help raise the national homeownership rate among African-Americans and Hispanics to a historic high of more than 50 percent in three years. Commissioner Apgar told the mayors that "in the first quarter of this year, 73.4 percent of white households across the nation owned their homes – but only 47.8 percent of African American households and 45.7 percent of Hispanic households were homeowners."

Richard Moe, President of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, emphasized during his remarks the effectiveness of preservation as a tool for revitalizing communities and creating and enhancing livability. Evidence of this revitalization and reinvention, he said, can be "seen in Denver, Chicago, Boston, and a number of other cities of all sizes, in all parts of the country." Mr. Moe said to the mayors that he had come with a simple message: "the National Trust for Historic Preservation and our preservation partners are allies in your efforts to address public demand for smart growth and make your communities more livable." Mr. Moe thanked the mayors for their support of the Historic Homeowners Tax Credit which is at the top of legislative priorities of the National Trust this year.

Todd Howe, staff Vice President of the Mortgage Bankers of America (MBA), briefed the mayors on the partnership that MBA and the Conference of Mayors formed and announced last January. With the agreement to work together established, MBA will now work with the Conference of Mayors’ new president, Boise Mayor H. Brent Coles on an agenda, which Howe said will include use of MBA’s Research Institute for America. Howe also invited Mayor Coles to speak at the national meeting of MBA in San Francisco in October.

Mark Turkcan, President, First Bank Mortgage, and Rick Coffman of Freddie Mac spoke to the mayors about an affordable housing initiative they have developed along with Fidelity Financial Services, Radian Guaranty Mortgage Insurance and Money Line America. The program, H.O.P.E., which is an acronym for Home Ownership Participation Equity, is designed to assist the construction of a new home on a vacant lot or the acquisition of existing housing in need of rehabilitation. H.O.P.E. will build a new home or facilitate the necessary improvements for occupancy by a Section 8 tenant whereby the tenant’s monthly voucher and co-payment will service a ten year fully amortizing loan, pay taxes and insurance and fund a property maintenance reserve.

Finally, a study was introduced by the Acting Committee Chair, Irvington Mayor Sara Bost. The study, issued by the National Housing Conference and the Center for Housing Policy, focuses on a segment of the population that is largely ignored by current housing policy: the roughly three million moderate income families who have critical housing needs despite working the equivalent of a full time job. The goal of the report is to provide the housing community, the housing industry, and policy makers at all levels of government with information necessary to broaden housing policies to recognize and deal with the needs of working families. The study indicates that some 2.4 million households spend more than half of their incomes on housing.

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