On the Road Across America
A Daily Journal from the Homeownership Express!

St. Paul Mayor Randy Kelly invited the "Homeownership Express" to town to see how one city's commitment to creating affordable housing is lifting families into a better quality of life. Always in search of success stories, the HUD team that's guiding the bus on its cross-country tour in celebration of National Homeownership Month readily accepted the invitation. Mayor Kelly has made housing the centerpiece of his administration and has promised to create 5,000 new units of housing by 2006. A select committee of housing and business professionals oversees the City's ambitious housing plan, which has already created over 1,600 units in its first year. The Express visited the first phase of St. Paul's Railroad Island/Phalen Corridor Housing Development. Here, Dayton's Bluff Neighborhood Housing Services and Habitat for Humanity are developing 11 homes. Over the next four years, the project will create 150 homes for sale in Railroad Island; at least half of them will be reserved for buyers with less than 80 percent of the area median income. Financing for the project is coming from a mix of federal, state, private, and city sources. Knowing how to buy a home - and how to keep it - is critically important for anyone interesting in becoming a homeowner. That's why today's event also focused on the importance of both homeowner education and foreclosure prevention counseling. St. Paul resident Poeum Chhil knows firsthand that understanding the ins and outs of the homebuying process can open the doors to homeownership. Four years ago, Poeum and her family arrived in this country from Cambodia. Today, she owns a home of her own - thanks in part to homeowner education provided by the Metropolitan Interfaith Council on Affordable Housing. The City of St. Paul and its partners for homeownership - which include Fannie Mae, LISC, Dayton's Bluff Neighborhood Housing Services, Habitat for Humanity, Minnesota Housing Finance Agency, St. Paul Area Association of REALTORS, Phalen Corridor Initiative, Home Ownership Center, and U.S. Bank - helped to drive home today's education message. Fannie Mae announced that it will provide Dayton's Bluff Neighborhood Housing Services and the Home Ownership Center each with a $5,000 corporate contribution to support their work in housing education. Today's visit also stressed a problem that's slowing down the production of affordable homes in other areas of the country: duplicative, contradictory, or burdensome regulatory barriers that restrict housing construction. HUD is helping communities identify these barriers and eliminate them. Speaking to the St. Paul audience, Deputy Secretary Alphonso Jackson announced a Department-wide initiative that will harness existing HUD resources to develop tools to measure and reduce the effects of excessive barriers. "By breaking down regulatory barriers at all levels of government, we are creating an environment to increasing minority homeownership," said Deputy Secretary Jackson. Tomorrow: Prospective homeowners gather in a city once known as the "gathering place by the waters": Milwaukee

New Homeowner Poeim Chhil and her family at their new house in St Paul Mn. The Chhil family came from Cambodia 4 years ago and went through a homeownership counseling class and now have a new home. St Paul, MN Mayor Randy Kelly addresses the homeownership event on Bedford St in St Paul. Looking on is The Rev. Paul Robinson, President of the Board of Directors for Metropolitan Interfaith Council on Affordable Housing and Poeun Chhil new homeowner. Deputy Secretary Alfonso Jackson addresses the Homeownership event in St Paul MN. HUD Regional Director Joseph Galvan and St Paul Mayor Randy Kelly during Homeownership Month. Mayor Randy Kelly, Samantha Mene, Sarai Pin, Poeun Chhil new homeowner and Sec Jackson in St Paul MN

Content Archived: May 3, 2010