President George W. Bush addresses the White House Conference on Increasing Minority Homeownership at The George Washington University Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2002
THE PRESIDENT: …. I appreciate your attendance to this very important conference. You see, we want everybody in America to own their own home. That's what we want. This is -- an ownership society is a compassionate society.
More and more people own their homes in America today. Two-thirds of all Americans own their homes, yet we have a problem here in America because few than half of the Hispanics and half the African Americans own the home. That's a homeownership gap. It's a -- it's a gap that we've got to work together to close for the good of our country, for the sake of a more hopeful future.
We've got to work to knock down the barriers that have created a homeownership gap.
I set an ambitious goal. It's one that I believe we can achieve. It's a clear goal, that by the end of this decade we'll increase the number of minority homeowners by at least 5.5 million families. (Applause.) … And it's going to require a strong commitment from those of you involved in the housing industry. …
I appreciate so very much the home owners who are with us today, the Arias family, newly arrived from Peru. They live in Baltimore. Thanks to the Association of Real Estate Brokers, the help of some good folks in Baltimore, they figured out how to purchase their own home. Imagine to be coming to our country without a home, with a simple dream. And now they're on stage here at this conference being one of the new home owners in the greatest land on the face of the Earth. I appreciate the Arias family coming. (Applause.)
We've got the Horton family from Little Rock, Arkansas, here today. … They were helped by HUD, they were helped by Freddie Mac. …
Finally, Kim Berry from New York is here. She's a single mom. You're not going to believe this, but her son is 18 years old. (Laughter.) She barely looked like she was 18 to me. And being a single mom is the hardest job in America. And the idea of this fine American working hard to provide for her child, at the same time working hard to realize her dream, which is owning a home on Long Island, is really a special tribute to the character of this particular person and to the character of a lot of Americans. So we're honored to have you here, Kim, and thanks for being such a good mom and a fine American. (Applause.)
I told Mel Martinez I was serious about this initiative… And the good news is, Mel Martinez believes it and means it, as well. He's doing a fine job of running HUD, and I'm glad he has joined my Cabinet. (Applause.)
And I picked a pretty spunky deputy, as well, Alphonso Jackson -- my fellow Texan. (Applause.) I call him A.J. …
I see Rosario Marin, who's the Treasurer of the United States. Rosario used to be a mayor. Thank you for coming, Madam Mayor. (Applause.) She understands how important housing is. …
All of us here in America should believe, and I think we do, that we should be, as I mentioned, a nation of owners. Owning something is freedom, as far as I'm concerned. It's part of a free society. And ownership of a home helps bring stability to neighborhoods. You own your home in a neighborhood, you have more interest in how your neighborhood feels, looks, whether it's safe or not. It brings pride to people, it's a part of an asset-based to society. It helps people build up their own individual portfolio, provides an opportunity, if need be, for a mom or a dad to leave something to their child. It's a part of -- it's of being a -- it's a part of -- an important part of America.
(Applause.)

Homeownership is also an important part of our economic vitality. If -- when we meet this project, this goal, according to our Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, we will have added an additional $256 billion to the economy by encouraging 5.5 million new home owners in America; …

Low interest rates, low inflation are very important foundations for economic growth. The idea of encouraging new homeownership and the money that will be circulated as a result of people purchasing homes will mean people are more likely to find a job in America. This project not only is good for the soul of the country, it's good for the pocketbook of the country, as well.
To open up the doors of homeownership there are some barriers, and I want to talk about four that need to be overcome. First, down payments. A lot of folks can't make a down payment. They may be qualified. They may desire to buy a home, but they don't have the money to make a down payment. I think if you were to talk to a lot of families that are desirous to have a home, they would tell you that the down payment is the hurdle that they can't cross. And one way to address that is to have the federal government participate.
And so we've called upon Congress to set up what's called the American Dream Down Payment Fund, which will provide financial grants to local governments to help first-time home buyers who qualify to make the down payment on their home. If a down payment is a problem, there's a way we can address that. And when Congress funds the program, this should help 200,000 new families over the next five years become first-time home buyers.
Secondly, affordable housing is a problem in many neighborhoods, particularly inner-city neighborhoods. … I'm doing is proposing a single-family affordable housing credit to encourage the construction of single-family homes in neighborhoods where affordable housing is scarce. (Applause.)
Over the next five years the initiative will provide home builders and therefore home buyers with -- home builders with $2 billion in tax credits to bring affordable homes and therefore provide an additional supply for home buyers. …
And we've got to set priorities. And one of the key priorities is going to be inner-city America. …
Another obstacle to minority homeownership is the lack of information. You know, getting into your own home can be complicated. It can be a difficult process. I had that very same problem. (Laughter and applause.)
Every home buyer has responsibilities and rights that need to be understood clearly. And yet, when you look at some of the contracts, there's a lot of small print. And you can imagine somebody newly arrived from Peru looking at all that print, and saying, I'm not sure I can possibly understand that. Why do I want to buy a home? There's an educational process that needs to go on, not only to explain the contract, explain obligation, but also to explain financing options, to help people understand the complexities of a homeownership market, and also at the same time to protect people from unscrupulous lenders, people who would take advantage of a good-hearted soul who is trying to realize their dream.
Homeownership education is critical. And so today, I'm pleased to announce that through Mel's office, we're going to distribute $35 million in 2003 to more than 100 national, state and local organizations that promote homeownership through buyer education. (Applause.)
 

And, of course, one of the larger obstacles to minority homeownership is financing, is the ability to have their dream financed. Right now, we have a program that all of you are familiar with, maybe our fellow Americans are, and that's what they call a Section 8 housing program, that provides billions of dollars in vouchers to help low-income Americans with their rent. It encourages leasing. We think it's important that we use those vouchers, that federal money to help low-income Americans go from being somebody who leases to somebody who owns; that we use the Section 8 program to not only help with down payment, but to help with continuing monthly mortgage payments after they're into their new home. It is a -- it is a way to help us meet this dream of 5.5 million additional families owning their home.

I'm also going to encourage the lending industry to develop a mortgage market so that this script, these vouchers, can regularly be used as a source of payment to provide more capital to lenders, who can then help more families move from rental housing into houses of their own. …
Last June, I issued a challenge to everyone involved in the housing industry to help increase the number of minority families to be home owners. And what I'm talking about, I'm talking about your bankers and your brokers and developers, as well as members of faith-based community and community programs. And the response to the home owners challenge has been very strong and very gratifying. Twenty-two public and private partners have signed up to help meet our national goal. Partners in the mortgage finance industry are encouraging homeownership by purchasing more loans made by banks to African Americans, Hispanics and other minorities.
Representatives of the real estate and homebuilding industries, through their nationwide networks or affiliates, are committed to broadening homeownership. They made the commitment to help meet the national goal we set.
Freddie Mae -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- I see the heads who are here; I want to thank you all for coming -- (laughter) -- have committed to provide more money for lenders. They've committed to help meet the shortage of capital available for minority home buyers.
Fannie Mae recently announced a $50 million program to develop 600 homes for the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma. Franklin [Raines], I appreciate that commitment. They also announced $12.7 million investment in a condominium project in Harlem. It's the beginnings of a series of initiatives to help meet the goal of 5.5 million families. Franklin told me at the meeting where we kicked this office, he said, I promise you we will help, and he has, like many others in this room have done.
Freddie Mac recently began 25 initiatives around the country to dismantle barriers and create greater opportunities for homeownership. One of the programs is designed to help deserving families who have bad credit histories to qualify for homeownership loans. …
There's all kinds of ways that we can work together to meet the goal. Corporate America has a responsibility to work to make America a compassionate place. Corporate America has responded. As an example -- only one of many examples -- the good folks at Sears and Roebuck have responded by making a five-year, $100 million commitment to making homeownership and home maintenance possible for millions of Americans. …
The non-profit groups are bringing homeownership to some of our most troubled communities. …
The other thing Kirbyjon told me, which I really appreciate, is you don't have to have a lousy home for first-time home buyers. If you put your mind to it, the first-time home buyer, the low-income home buyer can have just as nice a house as anybody else. And I know Kirbyjon. He is what I call a social entrepreneur who is using his platform as a Methodist preacher to improve the neighborhood and the community in which he lives.
And so is Luis Cortes, who represents Nueva Esperanza in Philadelphia. I went to see Luis in the inner-city Philadelphia. … But he also understood that a homeownership program is incredibly important to revitalize this neighborhood that a lot of folks had already quit on. …
Again, I want to tell you, this is an initiative -- as Mel will tell you, it's an initiative that we take very seriously. … Thank you for coming. May God bless your vision. May God bless America.

2002?
 
Really up to date.

That's totaly F'ed up. You take it point by point, Bush sounds exactly like a Liberal. That's why he screwed up so bad.

who cares, asshole?  bush called for 5.5 million more fannie mae mortgages, regardless of if they could come up with a down payment...get it?  this is in response to adam's cherry picking what cuomo said 2 years ago, as if he had a big damn influence....

It is a good and noble casue to promote home ownership. However, the massive fraud committed by Fannie and Freddie exuctives was completely unexpected by Congress, the Adminstration, and the Federal Reserve Board. John Snow, however, did see the need to regulate Fannie and freddie to prevent the abuse of power committed by Fannie and Freddie executives which lead to the credit crisis.

2002 was 2002...what relevance does that have today dallas?
 
And wanting people to have home ownership is indeed a wonderful thing, but allowing wholly unqualifable people to get mortgages was a huge mistake and we'll be paying for those mistakes for a very long time !

no, not really.  fannie mae and freddie mac did not let any private mortgages.  they did not qualify anybody.  they were in the secondary mortgage business, and even then, they only were connected to about 30% of the mortgages let....so you are blaming 100% of the problem on fannie mae and freddie mac?  does not compute.....

Hoosier, where did anyone say it was FM/FM who wrote the mortgages?  We were simply commenting on the circumstances that were catalysts for the problems...

Not everyone is qualified to own their own home.  Home ownership requires establishing a history of fiscal responsibility.  It requires a history of holding a steady job.  It requires discipline to save money for a down payment.

Mortgage loans should not be made to those who do not meet that criteria.  That is why we have things called "apartments" and "mom's basement."

Financial responsibility is not a trait that can be attached at will.  The government is not doing any favors by pushing institutions to make risky loans.

Home ownership is something that requires hard work and diligence.  It is not a birthright.

There was widespread lying on mortages applications according to many reports. People falsified assets, incomes, and debts on their applications. Over aggressive lenders induced some of this behavior.
 
Anybody think all the greed is on Wall Street ought to think about Main Street greed too.

fannie mae and freddie mac did not qualify anybody for a mortgage.  they were secondary lenders.  and even then they only accounted for about 30% or so.  any way you slice it, they were not the PRIMARY cause for the mortgage meltdown that occurred AFTER the housing bubble burst in late 2006......

With government guarantees, there was no incentive to verify the applications.  Standards were lowered too, to expand home ownership to those who previously wouldn't have been able to qualify.

Fannie and Freddie knew about the high risk mortgages. They failed to disclose them when selling mortgage backed securities to investors. This became a major cause of the financial meltdown.

The Community Reinvestment Act, which encouraged those bad loans, was.

Today, over 90% of home mortgage loans are controlled by the Federal government.

today, compared to when?  how many of them are today because THE FUCKING BOTTOM DROPPED OUT OF THE HOUSING MARKET AND THE FEDS HAD TO TAKE OVER?

Recession Causes:
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Bush Signs American Dream Downpayment Act

Article from:
Atlanta Inquirer  (http://www.highbeam.com/Atlanta+Inquirer/publications.aspx)
Article date:
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Atlanta Inquirer
<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:date Month="12" Day="27" Year="2003">12-27-2003</st1:date>
There is a reason why many American families can't buy their first home -
they can't afford the downpayment and other upfront closing costs required
to qualify for a mortgage. For as many as 40,000 two-income families, that
will change as President Bush has signed The American Dream Downpayment Act
into law.

Applauding Congress for authorizing the annual $200 million downpayment
assistance program, Bush and Housing and Urban Development Acting Secretary
Alphonso Jackson said the initiative will also help meet the
Administration's "Homeownership Challenge" to increase minority
homeownership by 5.5 million families by the end of the decade.

"Today we are taking action to ...


Read all of this article with a FREE trial (http://www.highbeam.com/reg/reg1.aspx?full=yes&origurl=/doc/1P1-91995260.html) <.></.>
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At the time, Barney Frank was a minority member of the committee. <.></.>
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At the time, Bush was still pushing for more and more subprime loans and bragging about "more Americans living the American dream of home ownership"... and urging Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy more subprime mortgages from the banks, so banks could make more loans.


At the time, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac weren't in trouble, and weren't part of the problem.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac don't write mortgages. They just buy mortgages from banks to free up money so banks can make more loans.
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Bush and Republicans strutted around for 4 years bragging about "more Americans living the American dream of home ownership". It was the only bright spot in an otherwise dismal economy. <.></.>

Then when the dream turned into a nightmare, they tried to blame it on people who had no power to do anything about it.

And they're still trying.

The public ain't buying that bullshit any more.
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But what put us in the toilet was 7 record budget deficits, a $13.2 trillion national debt, a weakened dollar, 7 record trade deficits, and the loss of 9 million jobs in the past 8 years. <.></.>

The housing meltdown was just the cherry on top a shit sundae.
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Yes, The Community Reinvestment Act has been in place for decades. However, before Bush it wasn't being abused, as banks knew they had to take the risk. <.></.>

What Bush and the Republicans did was take away the risk of making bad loans, and let them be shuffled off to someone else. <.></.>

Then Investment Banks got into the act (thanks to Phil Gramm getting Glass-Stengall repealed), and they bundled the subprime loans as "securities" that weren't secure, insured by "Swap Loan Guarantees" that weren't insurance, and the market just went insane with greed.<.></.>
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dano and dg trapmle each other to death as the excuse machine hits full power.
 
snick

Why don't the "experts" of Fannie and Freddie tell us about accounting fraud and fraudylant sales of mortgage backed securitities?
 
Why not tell us about Franklin Raines?
 
 
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_02/b3915646.htm (http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_02/b3915646.htm)
 
 
Why not tell us about the numerous times John Snow testified before Congress seeking  regulations of the GSE's to prevent a financial crisis?
 
http://www.ustreas.gov/press/releases/js716.htm (http://www.ustreas.gov/press/releases/js716.htm)
 
http://www.ustreas.gov/press/releases/js2369.htm (http://www.ustreas.gov/press/releases/js2369.htm)
 
Why not tell us about Barney Frank's roll in causing the financial crisis?
 
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/09/28/franks_fingerprints_are_all_over_the_financial_fiasco/ (http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/09/28/franks_fingerprints_are_all_over_the_financial_fiasco/)

Mortgage Meltdown caused by…<?  " " /><.></.>
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Bush said that the homeownership was a great accomplishment <.></.>

Expanding Home Ownership <.></.>

"This Administration will constantly strive to promote an ownership society in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:country-region><st1:place>America</st1:place></st1:country-region>. We want more people owning their own home. It is in our national interest that more people own their own home. After all, if you own your own home, you have a vital stake in the future of our country."

- President George W. Bush, <st1:date Month="12" Day="16" Year="2003">December 16, 2003</st1:date> <.></.>
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Increasing Homeownership

The <st1:country-region><st1:place>US</st1:place></st1:country-region> homeownership rate reached a record 69.2 percent in the second quarter of 2004. The number of homeowners in the <st1:country-region><st1:place>United States</st1:place></st1:country-region> reached 73.4 million, the most ever. And for the first time, the majority of minority Americans own their own homes.

The President set a goal to increase the number of minority homeowners by 5.5 million families by the end of the decade. Through his homeownership challenge, the President called on the private sector to help in this effort. More than two dozen companies and organizations have made commitments to increase minority homeownership - including pledges to provide more than $1.1 trillion in mortgage purchases for minority homebuyers this decade.

President Bush signed the $200 million-per-year American Dream Downpayment Act which will help approximately 40,000 families each year with their downpayment and closing costs.

The Administration proposed the Zero-Downpayment Initiative to allow the Federal Housing Administration to insure mortgages for first-time homebuyers without a downpayment. Projections indicate this could generate over 150,000 new homeowners in the first year alone.<.></.>
http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/achievement/chap7.h... (http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/achievement/chap7.html)<.></.>
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1.                   HUD News Release 03-140 (http://www.hud.gov/news/release.cfm?content=pr03-140.cfm)<.></.>

BUSH SIGNS AMERICAN DREAM DOWNPAYMENT ACT $200 million program will help tens of thousands of ... www.hud.gov/news. For Release
<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:date Month="12" Day="16" Year="2003">Tuesday December 16, 2003</st1:date> ...
www.hud.gov/news/release.cfm?content=pr03-140.cfm - 31k -
Cached (http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:xhJWY6wmHfQJ:www.hud.gov/news/release.cfm%3Fcontent%3Dpr03-140.cfm+Bush+december+16,+2003+press+release&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=us) - Similar pages (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rls=com.microsoft:en-us&q=related:www.hud.gov/news/release.cfm%3Fcontent%3Dpr03-140.cfm)
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Then Bush jaw-boned Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into buying more sub-prime loans from banks and mortgage companies, so the banks and mortgage companies could make MORE sub-prime loans.

As soon as they took over as chairmen of the banking committees, in 2007, Barney Frank and Chris Dodd stopped Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from buying more sub-prime loans, but by then it was too damned late.<.></.>
Then the Investment Banks created a brand-new class of "securities" which weren't secure, insured by "Trade Swap Agreements" which weren't insurance, by bundling those same sub-prime loans and selling them at AAA-rated prices. <.></.>

Same effect as penny stocks and junk bonds... worthless, or nearly so... <.></.>
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And Bush LEARNED his lesson, sadly liberal morons like Barney Fag and Hoosier missed it..
 
A September 11, 2003 New York Times article (http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E06E3D6123BF932A2575AC0A9659C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print) shows that President Bush proposed “the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis a decade ago.”  His proposal: An agency within the Treasury Department to supervise mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Fearing that mortgages would no longer be available to people who were unable to pay them back, Democrats eventually killed the proposal. The current meltdown in the mortgage industry is a direct result of giving mortgages to people who could not pay them back, a practice protected by Congressional Democrats.
Both entities were recently taken over by the government, a move that puts trillions of taxpayer dollars at risk.
 
But Democrats in Congress, also known as “the caucus perpetually on the wrong side of history,” were having none of this “responsibility” stuff.
 
”These two entities — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — are not facing any kind of financial crisis,” said Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. ”The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.”
Representative Melvin L. Watt, Democrat of North Carolina, agreed.
”I don’t see much other than a shell game going on here, moving something from one agency to another and in the process weakening the bargaining power of poorer families and their ability to get affordable housing,” Mr. Watt said.
 
The proposal worked its way around Congress for a couple of years.  Efforts at reform of the kind proposed by President Bush were shot down by Democrats each time (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/11/AR2008091102841.html).

 shot down by Democrats each time (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/11/AR2008091102841.html).
 
Oh, that's right...  Oops...

too bad that is a complete lie.  the democrats were a minority, dufus.  how did they stop everything?  dodd and frank HAD NO POWER, THEY WERE NOT HEADING ANY COMMITTEES....the republicans controlled both houses and the presidency, the democrats filibustered very few bills, the republicans set the agenda and the voting dates.  you are liars if you blame any lack of oversight from 2003-2006, which is win the housing boom began to burst, on the democrats....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/11/AR2008091102841.html (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/11/AR2008091102841.html)