By Eugene T. Lowe
October 21, 2002

Conference Vice President Hempstead (NY) Mayor James A. Garner served as a panelist on the White House Conference on Minority Homeownership on October 15. The one-day meeting, which involved several hundred public and private sector housing experts, was held at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. as a follow up to the goal set by President George Bush last June to increase minority homeownership by 5.5 million by the end of the decade. Participants shared ideas in several sessions throughout the morning before hearing a major speech by President Bush in the early afternoon.

Mayor Garner spoke in the first panel discussion of the day which focused on the importance of increasing minority homeownership. Mayor Garner's remarks and responses to questions from the audience were from the point of view of his city's minority population which is 65 percent of the total. He stressed that it was very important to protect his citizens from predatory lenders and that Hempstead had passed an anti-predatory law to do just that. Mayor Garner also spoke strongly about housing as the priority issue of Conference President Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino. He described the effort that the Conference of Mayors has made on the housing issue since last May, and the relationship that we have built with Nicolas Retsinas, Director of the Joint Commenting on his goal to increase minority homeowners to at least 5.5 million families by the end of the decade, President Bush said in a speech at the close of the White House Conference: "Some may think that's a stretch. I don-t think it is. I think it is realistic. I know we-re going to have to work together to achieve it. But when we do our communities will be stronger and so will our economy. Achieving the goal is going to require some good policies out of Washington. And it's going to require a strong commitment from those of you involved in the housing industry."

Commenting on his goal to increase minority homeowners to at least 5.5 million families by the end of the decade, President Bush said in a speech at the close of the White House Conference: "Some may think that's a stretch. I don-t think it is. I think it is realistic. I know we-re going to have to work together to achieve it. But when we do our communities will be stronger and so will our economy. Achieving the goal is going to require some good policies out of Washington. And it's going to require a strong commitment from those of you involved in the housing industry."