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Friday, June 20, 2003

	The Big Bus Arrives in Tallahassee
	Celebrating Jacksonville's Partners in Homeownership

Tuesday, June 17 (Tallahassee, Florida) Florida Governor Jeb Bush met up with the "Homeownership Express" in Florida's capitol city to deliver some great news to first-time homebuyers in the Sunshine State: $50 million in low interest-rate mortgages to help Florida families make the move into homeownership.

Florida is also making up to $15,000 in downpayment and closing cost assistance available to eligible participants. A family's inability to come up with enough cash to meet the up-front costs of buying a home remains the biggest barrier to homeownership.

"Affordable homeownership continues to strengthen Florida families by providing them with a sense of pride and independence," said Governor Bush. "The dollars released today by the Florida Housing Finance Corporation will help hundreds of families realize their dreams."

The Governor was joined by Tallahassee Mayor John Marks, Florida Secretary of Community Affairs Colleen Castille, Florida Housing's Executive Director Orlando Cabrera, and Ginnie Mae President Ron Rosenfeld. Each described the many ways in which homeownership is strengthening Tallahassee's families and the community as a whole.

Toshia Butler - a Tallahassee-area, first-time homeowner speaking in public for the first time - truly captured the spirit of the day when it was her turn in front of the microphone.

With the Homeownership Express and Florida's Capitol building behind her, Toshia spoke movingly about realizing the American Dream of homeownership, echoing the sentiments of many of the new homeowners the Express has met up with during the first two weeks of its cross-country journey.

Toshia became a homeowner with the help of down payment assistance she received from the Florida Housing Finance Corp., as well as homeownership education and flexible mortgage financing options provided through various national, state, and local partners.

Census Bureau statistics show that, although a record number of Americans own homes, a gap persists between the homeownership rates of minorities and non-minorities. By a significant margin, African-American, Hispanic, and Asian American families are less likely to own their own homes. During today's ceremony, Mayor Marks unveiled a Homeownership Month proclamation, rededicating the City of Tallahassee to narrowing the homeownership gap and helping more area residents achieve the American Dream.

Ginnie Mae President Rosenfeld highlighted the Bush Administration's commitment to increasing homeownership, especially among minorities, and discussed some of the exciting efforts underway to help meet the President's goal of creating 5.5 million new minority homeowners by the end of this decade.

Wednesday, June 18 (Jacksonville, Florida) When HUD's "Homeownership Express" pulled into Jacksonville, it was carrying two valuable pieces of cargo: a busload of resources to help families build new lives in homes of their own, and news that Florida will receive $62 million in federal grants to help shelter people and strengthen communities.

The dollars will go toward rental housing development, homeownership assistance, housing rehabilitation, preventing homelessness, transitional housing for former prisoners, public facilities and infrastructure, community development projects, economic development, technical assistance and meeting other critically important local needs.

Assistant Secretary Bernardi is flanked by two new homeowners as the Homeowner Express stops in Jacksonville, Florida.

"For years, these funds have built and rehabilitated homes, fueled business development to create jobs and improved the overall health of our nation's communities," said HUD Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development Roy Bernardi. "These funds are designed by each individual community to best meet unique local needs."

The visit by the Homeownership Express created the perfect opportunity to celebrate the strong partnership that has united HUD with the City of Jacksonville, Habijax (the Jacksonville branch of Habitat for Humanity), the Jacksonville Housing Authority and others who create housing opportunities for Jacksonville residents.

Over the past few years, this collective effort has been instrumental in opening the doors of homeownership to more than 400 residents of public housing alone.

"What you have achieved here in Jacksonville demonstrates more vividly than words what we can accomplish when government, nonprofits, housing authorities, volunteers and local businesses join together to help our neighbors achieve the American Dream," said Assistant Secretary Bernardi.

Habitat for Humanity's success is proof that organizations rooted in faith are indeed changing America - one life at a time, one home at a time. Thousands of grassroots organizations around the country that aren't necessarily as big as Habitat have hearts that are equally large, and they're anxious to partner with the federal government to better serve their communities.

That's exactly what the President's Faith-Based and Community Initiatives is all about: helping grassroots organizations reach out and touch more lives.

Assistant Secretary Bernardi was joined in Jacksonville by Brian Noyes, HUD's Regional Director for the Southeast/Caribbean; city officials; community leaders; Habijax Director Joe Honeycutt; Jacksonville Housing Authority Director Ronnie Ferguson; and other key non-profit organizations.