By Dave Gatton and Carolyn Merryweather
October 20, 2003

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) held their National Summit on Housing Opportunities in Washington (DC) September 24-25. Conference of Mayors Trustee Dearborn Mayor Michael A. Guido and Advisory Board Member Fort Collins Mayor Ray Martinez participated in the summit designed to advance the national debate in affordable housing. Public television's Ray Suarez, senior correspondent of "The Newshour with Jim Lehrer, moderated the summit.

Guido and Martinez participated in a roundtable discussion on housing opportunities along with other leaders from the public and private sectors, including key congressional leaders. "Realtors are ambassadors to our cities, and in many cases are the first people new residents meet when they move to a city. Therefore, as mayors, it is important that we work closely with the realtor community to promote housing opportunities," Guido said during the session.

The summit addressed issues such as the affordability of housing for low, moderate, and middle class working families in addition to special needs housing. Barriers to minority homeownership were central to the discussion.

During the summit, the NAR released the "National Housing Opportunity Pulse Survey." The survey found that two out of three Americans are concerned about the cost of housing in their communities. In addition, 67 percent of those surveyed said that they would be more likely to vote for a candidate who works to make housing more affordable, and 71 percent reported that they would like to see the government place a higher priority on making affordable housing available to more homeowners and renters. Sixty-two percent of Americans are concerned about the impact of rising housing costs on public employees such as teachers, police, and firefighters, and 81 percent would support the construction of affordable housing for these employees. Overall, 56 percent of those surveyed worried that the high cost of housing was hurting their local economies.

"Homeownership sets families on the course of building long-term wealth. It truly is the American dream, instilling pride both individually and within communities," said Conference President Hempstead (NY) Mayor James A. Garner in remarks released at the summit.

NAR represents more than 930,000 members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries.