National Homeownership Month
Kickoff Event in Columbus

The Columbus HUD Field Office, along with Greater Columbus Habitat for Humanity, the City of Columbus, the Columbus Board of Realtors, and Homes on the Hill (a local CDC) will be celebrating the kickoff of National Homeownership Month with a Habitat Wall Raising on June 4, 2004 at 3 pm. Neighborhood residents, elected officials, and housing industry representatives will attend this Wall Raising, with remarks by U.S. Congresswoman Deborah Pryce of Ohio's 15th District., Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman, HUD Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development Roy Bernardi, and others. Press coverage is expected.

The wall raising is part of a collaborative effort to improve a low-income street in the Hilltop neighborhood on the near west side of Columbus. This effort includes the building of three new homes by Habitat, one new home by the local non-profit CDC, Homes on the Hill, and a general neighborhood clean up with volunteers from the neighborhood, the Columbus Board of Realtors, and the local HUD Field Office volunteers. The Hilltop Bean Dinner is a day long widely attended music and cultural event held in the Hilltop neighborhood of Columbus.

The Hilltop Business Association sponsors the event, which will be held on June 26. The Columbus HUD Field Office, in collaboration with the Columbus Board of Realtors, is sponsoring a homeownership information booth at this festival. HUD staff, realtors, and lenders will be providing information and discussing homeownership options with potential homebuyers.