EXCERPT......Ten years ago, for example, the typical conforming mortgage required a down payment of 10 to 20 percent, and low-down payment mortgages were considered too risky. But then we helped to standardize the 3 to 5 percent down payment loan, brought it to global capital markets, and made it available to lenders and communities nationwide. Now low-down payment loans are commonplace. And we just adopted a new variance in our underwriting standards that will make the $500 down payment loan widely available as well...
In 1994, we pledged to provide $1 trillion in capital to ten million underserved families by the end of 2000. Thanks to our housing and industry partners, we met that goal early. Then in 2000, we launched our American Dream Commitment, a pledge to provide $2 trillion in capital to 18 million underserved families by the year 2010, including $400 billion targeted specifically for minority families (later raised to $700 billion in response to President Bush’s Minority Homeownership Initiative).
After four of the strongest years in housing and mortgage finance history, we’ve already surpassed the top-line goals of this commitment. But our work is far from complete.
So in January 2004, we announced our Expanded American Dream Commitment and pledged significant new resources to tackle America’s toughest housing challenges. Our new commitment has three main goals.
First, we will expand access to homeownership for six million first-time home buyers in the next ten years, including 1.8 million minority first-time home buyers. We also will help raise the national minority homeownership rate from 49 percent to 55 percent, with the ultimate goal of closing it entirely.
Second, we will help new and long-term homeowners stay in their homes through a series of initiatives, and commit $15 billion to preserve affordable rental housing and $1.5 billion to support the revitalization of public housing communities.
Third, we will increase the supply of affordable housing and support community development activities in at least 1,000 neighborhoods across the country through our American Communities Fund, and through targeted investments like Low-Income Housing Tax Credits that help finance affordable rental housing.
It is because of initiatives like our Trillion Dollar Commitment and our American Dream Commitment that we have exceeded our HUD affordable housing goals for ten consecutive years. And we have increased our financing of mortgages to African Americans by over 400 percent and to Hispanic Americans by 470 percent in the past ten years, compared with a 205 percent increase in overall financing.
Our Expanded American Dream Commitment will help us do even more.
December 16, 2003
Expanding Homeownership Opportunities for All Americans
Today's Presidential Action
Today, President Bush signed into law the American Dream Downpayment Act of 2003, which will help approximately 40,000 families a year with their down payment and closing costs, and further strengthen America's housing market. This legislation complements the President's aggressive housing agenda announced in 2002 to dismantle the barriers to homeownership. Today, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Census Bureau released data showing that new home construction in November reached its highest level in nearly 20 years. Overall housing starts rose 4.5 percent from October and rose 17.6 percent from November of 2002. Single-family housing starts totaled 1,695,000 (SAAR) in November, up 3.3 percent from October and up 20.8 percent from November 2002 -- a record for single-family starts. The strong housing market is beneficial for communities across the Nation. America's families have been refinancing due to the lowest mortgage rates in 45 years, saving hundreds of dollars a month on their home payments. The U.S. homeownership rate was 68.4% in the third quarter?its highest level ever.
Background on Today's Presidential Action
The biggest barrier to homeownership is often accumulating funds for a down payment. In June 2002, President Bush proposed the American Dream Downpayment Fund to help low-income families take much-needed steps to own a home of their own, and announced the goal of increasing the number of minority homeowners by at least 5.5 million before the end of the decade. President Bush's aggressive housing agenda to dismantle the barriers to homeownership includes providing down payment assistance through the American Dream Downpayment Fund; increasing the supply of affordable homes through the Single-Family Affordable Housing Tax Credit; increasing support for self-help homeownership programs like Habitat for Humanity; simplifying the home-buying process; and increasing home-buying education.
Dismantling the Barriers to Homeownership President Bush issued America's Homeownership Challenge to the real estate and mortgage finance industries to encourage them to join the effort to close the gap that exists between the homeownership rates of minorities and non-minorities. The Bush Administration and the America's Homeownership Challenge partners in the private sector are working hard to increase minority homeownership, and are seeing positive results:
There are more than 1 million new minority homeowners in the U.S. since the President's announcement 18 months ago. Nearly 1,500 low-income families are now using housing vouchers to pay their monthly mortgage or other costs of owning a home, and HUD is working with public housing authorities to allow the sale of some units to tenants. The Federal Trade Commission and HUD are working together to protect homebuyers from predatory lenders. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is continuing to implement the Money Smart program, which is providing financial education services for potential homebuyers. Through America's Homeownership Challenge, more than 2 dozen companies have made commitments to increase minority homeownership, including pledges to provide more than $1.1 trillion in mortgage purchases for minority homebuyers this decade. The Bush Administration has begun the final stage of its effort to reduce closing costs, simplify the settlement paperwork, and eliminate surprise closing costs for American homebuyers by reforming the rules governing the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act.Strengthening Economic Activity
According to an analysis released in 2002 by HUD, meeting the President's goal to close the housing gap will involve $256 billion in economic activity in the form of construction and remodeling jobs, spending on household goods, and other benefits. Because of rising home values, Americans are enjoying more than $2.5 trillion of greater housing wealth than they did at the beginning of 2001.