WASHINGTON - U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew Cuomo on Monday, October 2, will convene the top U.S. housing experts to examine the federal government's critical role in ensuring an adequate supply of affordable, decent and safe housing for the nation.

More than 200 policy-makers, industry representatives, researchers and academics are slated to attend the two day conference, Housing Policy for the New Millennium.

"Though we're in a time of record prosperity, we face a host of complex housing issues," Cuomo said. "Spiraling housing costs, the impact of sprawl, predatory lending and the future of public housing are just a few of the tough issues that need to be examined using fresh, innovative approaches."

HUD Deputy Secretary Saul Ramirez will open the conference at 12:30 p.m. on Monday, October 2 at the Hilton Crystal City, in Arlington, VA.

Susan Wachter, HUD Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research, will moderate the opening plenary session, Examining the Role of the Government in Public Housing, from 2:00 p.m. to 3:45 p.m. The session will focus on what the appropriate role of the federal government, in general, and HUD, in particular, should be in solving the nation's housing problems. It will address policies to promote homeownership, spatial and economic mobility, equal opportunity, community development and efficient and equitable settlement patterns. The keynote speaker will be Michael Schill, New York University, and panelists will include Phillip Clay, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Peter Dreier, Occidental College; and Hattie Dorsey, Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership, Inc.

Monday's second plenary session, Increasing Access to Homeownership, will run from 4:15 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. and will examine the causes for the increase in homeownership, including public policy actions taken by HUD, the FHA, and the GSEs that have contributed to record levels of homeownership; the continuing role of public policy in increasing homeownership; and why homeownership is vital to households and communities. The panel will also address the challenges and opportunities presented by new technology including, automated underwriting technologies and credit scoring techniques. The panel moderator will be William C. Apgar, HUD Assistant Secretary for Housing and FHA Commissioner, and panelists will include James Carr, Fannie Mae Foundation; Stuart Gabriel, University of Southern California; Richard Green, University of Wisconsin-Madison; and Margery Turner, The Urban Institute.

Concluding the first day of activities will be a 6 p.m. reception and dinner, featuring a keynote address by HUD Secretary Cuomo.

Tuesday's activities begin at 9:00 a.m. with a demonstration of the Internet and uses of information technology and GIS for Housing Analysis.

Three morning roundtable breakout sessions will follow from 10:15 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

The first morning breakout session, International Perspectives on Housing Policy, will focus on relevant lessons learned by other countries in providing low-income housing finance, with an emphasis on the roles of the private and public sectors. The panel will investigate ways housing finance can be efficiently directed to lower income households that have been traditionally disenfranchised from the formal housing finance sector. The panel will also discuss how these innovative approaches can be further developed and applied both domestically and internationally. The moderator will be Steven Bernstein, HUD Chief Economist for International Affairs, and panelists will be Bruce Ferguson, Inter-American Development Bank; Stephen Malpezzi, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Sally Merrill, The Urban Institute; Mary Ortera, Accion Internacional; Bertrand Renaud, World Bank; and Robert Van Order, Freddie Mac.

The second morning breakout session, Smart Growth and Housing Policy, will focus on the lessons emerging from the smart growth movement and what can be done to make sure that affordable housing has a place in smart growth policy decisions. Moderating this session will be Ayse Can Talen, HUD Deputy Assistant Secretary for Research, Evaluation, and Monitoring, and panelists will be Keith Laughlin, Council on Environmental Quality; Arthur C. Nelson, Georgia Institute of Technology; John Frece, Special Assistant to the Governor of Maryland on Smart Growth; and Betty Weiss, National Neighborhood Coalition.

The third morning session, Innovations in Public Housing, will examine the bold new steps HUD and its public housing and private sector partners have taken in the past seven years to radically transform the quality of public housing and the lives of residents. This panel will discuss three innovative strategies: (1) deconcentration, with a special discussion of the Chicago transformation plan; (2) redevelopment, particularly the role of the private sector, and (3) services for residents, with emphasis on employment opportunities for families and helping elderly age in place. The moderator will be Elinor Bacon, HUD Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Housing Investments, and panelists will be Gayle Epp and Jill Khadurri, Abt Associates; Sharon Gist Gilliam, Chicago Housing Authority; James Riccio, Manpower Development Research Corporation; David Schwartz, Rutgers University; and Rod Solomon, HUD Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy, Program, and Legislative Initiatives.

The featured lunch speaker will be Anthony Downs, The Brookings Institution.

The three afternoon breakout sessions will run from 1:00 p.m. to 2:45 p.m. The first session, The New Affordable Housing Production Initiatives, will document the need for additional production and discuss some of the strategies that should be considered as part of a reinvigorated production program. The moderator will be Shaun Donovan, HUD Deputy Assistant Secretary for Multi-Family Housing, and the panelists will be Helen Kanovsky, Executive Vice President, AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust; Michael Stegman, University of North Carolina; Steven Lefkovitz, National Multihousing Council; and Peter Engle, Deputy Director Community Development Administration, Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development.

Subprime Market Growth and Predatory Lending will be the second afternoon breakout session. It will examine policy issues related to the recent growth in subprime lending, and focus on the likely impact of proposals to address the problem of predatory lending. During the second part of this session, the panel will discuss what has been learned about the nature and magnitude of the predatory lending problem. The panel will then discuss proposed remedies, including increased education and counseling to specific legislative proposals. Allen Fishbein from HUD's Office of the Assistant Secretary for Housing will moderate. Panelists will be Dan Immergluck, Woodstock Institute; Chris Herbert, Abt Associates; Susan Gates, Freddie Mac; David Medine, National Economic Council, The White House; Stella Adams, North Carolina Fair Housing Center; and Carol Hemingway, ACORN.

The final afternoon breakout session, Developments in Housing Voucher Policy, will explore the current state of the voucher program - including recent changes that have been implemented to improve the program - as well as its future direction. Joining moderator Jeff Lubell, HUD Director of Policy Development, will be Sheila Crowley, National Low Income Housing Coalition; Cushing Dolbeare, Housing Policy Consultant; Jens Ludwig, Georgetown Public Policy Institute; Edgar Olsen, University of Virginia; Steve Renahan, Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles; and Barbara Sard, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

The closing plenary session, Building Homes in America's Cities, from 3:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., will look at the overall economic recovery of cities and will focus on a number of case studies and "best practices" of cities leading this effort. The panel will discuss how cities use partnerships to break down regulatory barriers, initiate building code reforms and use HUD programs to stimulate development. The HUD moderators will be William Apgar and Susan Wachter, and panelists will be David Listokin, Rutgers University; Robert Mitchell, National Association of Homebuilders; Doug Porter, Growth Management Institute; and Michael Turner, Mayor of Dayton, OH.

Cuomo says that a series of "housing white papers" addressing these and other issues will be developed from the conference.