U.S. Conference of Mayors
Conference on Affordable Housing
Remarks prepared for delivery by
Secretary Mel Martinez
Washington, DC
Wednesday, May 22, 2002
Thank you for inviting me here this morning. I am glad that this
conference has drawn such a cross-section of individuals and organizations
concerned about housing in this country. I respect your work, and
it is always a pleasure to meet with you.
Mayor Menino, I appreciate your introduction. In the Bush Administration,
we are passionate about the work we do every day to help families
find affordable housing. Mayor, I am delighted that somebody else
has joined us in this mission, and I welcome you aboard. I commend
you for making affordable housing a top priority of the U.S. Conference
of Mayors.
Let me begin my remarks this morning with a thought that I usually
save for the end of a speech. I want to stress - right up front
- that with all of the work ahead of us, and all the families
who are depending on us, there is no room in the housing debate
for partisan politics. Meeting the housing needs of this country
demands bipartisan cooperation.
Before coming to HUD, I served in elected office at the local level
in Florida - as the County Mayor of Orange County in Orlando, which
has a population of nearly one million. My own experiences in handling
the same concerns that mayors deal with daily reinforced my belief
that local problems need local solutions.
I respect the right of local communities to make their own decisions
and I understand the importance of having a federal government that
supports, but does not interfere.
You have our support - my personal support, the support of the
Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the support of
this Administration - in working to preserve our cities as vibrant
hubs of commerce and make our communities better places to live,
work, and raise a family.
As your ally, I have met with mayors from across this country during
the past 16 months. I have visited your cities and toured your housing
developments - the successes, and the troubled areas that we have
pledged to work together to revitalize. I have talked with hundreds
of your citizens about their dreams for their communities and seen
their pride in the new homes they are living in today thanks to
the help of HUD.
The HUD budget we have proposed for the coming fiscal year is $31.5
billion. This represents an increase of 7 percent over the previous
year. During a year in which the needs of war and the cost of homeland
security are consuming so many of our resources, HUD was the only
domestic agency to receive a budget increase. The fact that President
Bush increased the HUD budget by 7 percent in this particular
year says a great deal about the commitment of this President,
this Administration, and myself to meeting the housing needs of
the American people.
Let me tell you just some of what we have been doing at HUD for
the past 16 months, because we have been extremely busy:
We are helping more families than ever before reach the American
Dream of homeownership.
We named 40 communities to the Administration's new Renewal Community
initiative, to encourage economic development and promote affordable
housing.
We began reform of the homebuying process, to make it less expensive
and less complicated for consumers.
We are taking aggressive enforcement action against predatory lenders.
We are helping more families find affordable rental housing because
we increased the loan limits for FHA multi-family insurance for
the first time since 1992.
We cracked down on lenders charging illegal fees during the settlement
process.
We redeployed HUD's resources to better serve you at the local
level.
We made HUD more user friendly.
We vowed to end chronic homelessness within the next decade, and
got the support of the White House to reactivate the Interagency
Council on the Homeless.
And we have dedicated tremendous energy and resources to helping
New York City rebuild and recover following the terrorist attacks.
I am proud of all that we have accomplished, and the way in which
we have touched so many lives. There is no question that housing
challenges remain, but this Administration is focused on meeting
them. To do so, the federal government will need more than just
your support - our local communities must be actively engaged.
Clearly, the federal government has a role in helping to address
housing affordability in this country. We provide tax credits to
stimulate rental housing construction and rehabilitation, block
grants that can be used for housing production, rental assistance
to low-income citizens, and insurance and guarantee programs.
But ultimately, decisions that you make at the local level have
the greatest impact on the cost and availability of housing.
In my home state, as many as 15 builders used to provide affordable
housing in the central Florida counties of Orange, Seminole, and
Osceola. Only three are building affordable housing today because
there is simply no profit in it anymore. And there is no profit
in it largely because local governments have made it unprofitable.
By the time builders in Florida buy the land, factor in the cost
of complying with new building codes and regulations, pay the housing
impact fees, buy their building permits, the added cost of governmental
regulation can place it well beyond the reach of low-income buyers.
That leaves builders with four choices. One
they build, but
only if they can find extremely inexpensive lots. Two
they
build, if government provides enough subsidies to knock down the
price. Three
they build in areas so remote that buyers end
up living far outside the job market.
Or four
they do not build affordable housing at all.
The fourth option is the choice most builders are making.
The situation in Florida is a microcosm of what we see happening
in cities across the country. Not every city, of course, but many.
When a teacher cannot afford to live in the community he or she
serves, or a young couple cannot afford a home close to their jobs,
or an elderly parent cannot afford even a small apartment near her
children, these are symptoms of a larger problem.
Whether by intent - through the so-called "not in my backyard"
syndrome of exclusionary zoning, expensive building fees, and burdensome
regulatory barriers - or unintentionally, local governments are
often driving up housing costs and driving out affordable housing.
In many instances, communities with the most restrictive land use
and zoning regulations have affordable housing shortages. A city
like Portland, Oregon, with its stringent regulations, immediately
comes to mind.
As a strong advocate for letting state and local governments do
their work with a minimum of federal interference, the last thing
I would do is try to tell you how to do your jobs. But as someone
who used to serve on the local level, I always felt that the solution
was for government to be the catalyst for change, while allowing
market forces to do their work.
We should be asking ourselves how we can encourage - not discourage
- market forces to create affordable housing.
One thing I can say with certainty - and this is a cornerstone
of President Bush's philosophy - is that the solution to meeting
the nation's affordable housing needs will not come out of Washington.
I have traveled across this country discussing housing affordability
since my appointment as Secretary. The only constant I have found
from city to city is the fact that things are different everywhere.
The specific housing needs in Denver are going to be very different
from those in Dubuque. What Boston considers to be a serious problem
may not be a problem at all in Bakersfield. When it comes to housing,
there are different degrees of seriousness, and the solutions vary
depending on the specific communities.
The nation is simply too large and too diverse to lump under any
single federal solution. Individual problems demand an individual
response. The decisions that you make on the local level are going
to have the greatest impact on whether your community has enough
affordable housing to meet its needs.
This is likely to be a fundamental message of the Millennial Housing
Commission when it releases its report.
While we have yet to see a final report, a major theme the Commission
heard repeatedly is that housing issues are predominantly local
issues. Success in meeting the nation's affordable housing needs
depends on devolving decision-making authority to the state and
local level. No one is in a better position to address a community's
specific affordable housing concerns than the community leaders
themselves.
Of course, the finding that housing issues are primarily local
issues makes the work of America's mayors all the more important.
I look forward to reviewing the report thoroughly, and working with
Members of Congress and local officials to see how the Commission's
hard work can be translated into real progress for American families.
Whatever the Commission does or does not say in its report, I want
you to know that this Administration shares your concerns about
the availability and affordability of housing in this country. One
way we are taking action is by helping more families own their own
home.
June is going to be exciting and very busy for HUD. For the first
time, we are dedicating an entire month to celebrating the benefits
of homeownership. Communities across the country will mark National
Homeownership Month with homeownership fairs and other special events.
The White House will be actively involved. We invite your communities
to get involved as well.
HUD is actively promoting affordable homeownership. As I visit
cities around the country, mayors frequently tell me about the transforming
power of homeownership on both families and communities. I want
to highlight five of HUD's homeownership initiatives that we think
have tremendous potential.
First
We are working to open the doors of homeownership to
more low-income families by helping them overcome one of the biggest
hurdles: the down payment. Each year, the new American Dream Downpayment
Fund will help 40,000 first-time, low-income homebuyers achieve
a home of their own.
Second
The HUD program that supports organizations like Habitat
for Humanity has made homeownership a reality for thousands of families.
We are tripling funding for the Self-Help Homeownership Opportunity
program to $65 million next year.
Third
Another initiative that we are excited about helps
low-income families make the move from Section 8 housing to homeownership
by allowing them to put up to a year's worth of their rental vouchers
toward a home down payment.
Fourth
I have undertaken comprehensive reform of the Real
Estate Settlement Procedures Act. My goal is to improve the mortgage
process so that consumers get simpler, clearer, and earlier disclosure
- and have the opportunity to shop for the best mortgage to meet
their needs, at a lower cost.
And fifth
The increase in sub-prime loans - and the corresponding
rise in cases of predatory lending - have made financial literacy
more important than ever. We plan to make housing counseling a separate
program and boost its funding substantially in the coming year.
I also understand that the Millennial Housing Commission is expected
to endorse a program that is nearly identical to an affordable housing
initiative proposed by President Bush. The President's plan would
provide tax credits for single-family home construction in much
the same way the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit has provided incentives
for multifamily housing. This is something we would strongly support.
We are creating solutions to meet the affordable housing challenge
- through the programs I have mentioned, and by forming partnerships
on the state and local level with government agencies, developers,
lenders, non-profit organizations, and the commercial sector.
I have seen for myself the housing opportunities these partnerships
can create when they are successful.
In Jacksonville, Florida, I visited the Fairway Oaks housing development.
The project is a partnership between the local office of Habitat
for Humanity, the Jacksonville Housing Authority, and the Northeast
Florida Builders Association. In 17 days - and during a hurricane
- a small army of workers built 84 homes. Affordable rental housing
was added later.
The Fairway Oaks development serves as a national model of a community
coming together and generating a creative solution to a local concern.
With this kind of inspiration to guide you, I have no doubt that
our cities will meet the housing challenges ahead. America's cities
have always risen to the challenges presented by the times. HUD
is proud to be your partner. We look forward to strengthening our
communities in the coming years through our dedication to affordable
housing, as we work together to bring out the best in our people,
and the best in America.
Content Archived: March 16, 2010
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