[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 30 (Wednesday, March 18, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E416-E417]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


FANNIE MAE'S FOUR YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF ITS TRILLION DOLLAR COMMITMENT TO 
                           AFFORDABLE HOUSING

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. RICK LAZIO

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 18, 1998

  Mr. LAZIO of New York. Mr. Speaker, as Chairman of the Housing and 
Community Opportunity Subcommittee, I congratulate Fannie Mae on the 
four-year anniversary of its Trillion Dollar Commitment to improving 
our nation's housing. In 1994, Fannie Mae Chairman and CEO Jim Johnson 
announced that by the end of the year 2000 the company would provide a 
trillion dollars in targeted housing finance to serve families with 
incomes below the median, minorities and new immigrants, families who 
live in central cities, rural areas and distressed communities and 
people with special housing needs. This effort is intended to help 10 
million additional families attain the American dream of homeownership.
  In order to achieve this goal, Fannie Mae is creating new products, 
breaking down financial and informational barriers to homeownership, 
reaching out to new partners and making the elimination of 
discrimination the number one priority of the housing finance industry. 
Fannie Mae has opened 29 partnership offices to assist with these 
efforts. Lenders, realtors, homebuilders, mortgage insurers, non-
profits and others in the housing industry have joined Fannie Mae in 
this successful effort which already has helped 5.6 million families 
achieve the dream of homeownership and which has provided $440 billion 
in housing finance.
  Recently, Fannie Mae announced two new programs that are having a 
positive impact on the affordable housing needs in my district. Fannie 
Mae's initiatives not only encourage homeownership but also promote 
revitalization of cities through loans that provide for renovation of 
homes in high-cost urban areas. These programs, Homestyle Remodeler and 
Flexible 97, allow homeowners and homebuyers to borrow money for 
renovation and rehabilitation of their homes. Homestyle Remodeler is 
being tested exclusively on Long Island, and Flexible 97 is being 
tested around the country, including on Long Island.
  Again, congratulations to Fannie Mae and its partners on a successful 
four years and I wish them even greater success in the years ahead. 
This initiative is making a major impact on communities across the 
nation as the following letters from Mayors indicate.

                                          Office of the Mayor,

                                  Kansas City, MO., March 2, 1998.
     James A. Johnson,
     Chairman and CEO, Fannie Mae,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Mr. Chairman: Please allow me to congratulate and 
     commend you and Fannie Mae on the leadership you have 
     provided to make homeownership and affordable housing 
     available to Kansas City families as part of the Trillion 
     Dollar Commitment.
       The $650 million Kansas City Investment Plan and the 
     opening of the Partnership Office has provided for 
     significant additional opportunities in the furtherance of 
     affordable housing. These efforts have been multi-faceted and 
     done in partnership as you have worked with city and state 
     governments, non-profits, lenders, developers and other 
     housing advocates to achieve this goal.
       Through it, you have provided for the $12.8 million 
     rehabilitation of the 455 unit Royal Woods Apartments, 
     formerly known as Hanover in the Woods and the current $5.7 
     million rehabilitation of the 450 unit President's Gardens.
       Your $400,000 community development financial investment 
     into Douglass National Bank, a minority owned lender, 
     characterizes your strong commitment to housing and lending 
     opportunities to minority families as does the 8.7% increase 
     in minority homebuyers assisted under your investment plan.
       We are especially pleased by the many single family 
     mortgage products that have been developed for the Kansas 
     City market including our partnership around the Police in 
     Neighborhoods project. Creating homeownership assistance 
     opportunities to foster the purchase of homes in our 
     community by the members of the Kansas City, Missouri Police 
     Department is something that I am most proud. A member of my 
     security detail, Marlon Buie, and his family purchased such a 
     home and they are featured in your new One Trillion Dollar 
     Commitment Report publication.
       The development of the Kansas City Homeownership Counseling 
     Collaborative, to allow for the expansion of homeownership 
     education for Kansas City families is another example of your 
     work in this city.
       These are only some of the activities engaged by Fannie Mae 
     in Kansas City but they provide clear evidence of the 
     undeniable, positive impact that Fannie Mae is having here 
     and around the country on housing finance.
       We value the relationship we have with Fannie Mae and wish 
     to congratulate you on the success achieved under the 
     Trillion Dollar Commitment and we look forward to 
     continuation of this partnership.
           Sincerely,
     Emanuel Cleaver II.
                                                                    ____



                                          Office of the Mayor,

                                      Hartford, CT, March 4, 1998.
     James A. Johnson, 
     Chairman, Fannie Mae,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Jim: I'm writing to congratulate you and Fannie Mae on 
     the work you've done and on the celebration of the fourth 
     anniversary of your Trillion Dollar Commitment. I would like 
     to commend Fannie Mae on its leadership and diligent pursuit 
     of meeting the goals you set forth to make homeownership and 
     affordable housing available to so many more families.
       I would further commend you on your efforts here in 
     Hartford. My administration has worked in concert with your 
     Hartford Partnership Office since you opened the office in 
     early 1995. Hartford is on the rebound and homeownership and 
     rebuilding neighborhoods has been a critical ingredient. The 
     HouseHartford program which we created jointly has helped 
     over 110 families become homeowners in our City during the 
     past year and one-half. The program is broadly seen as a huge 
     success evidenced by the increase in dollars the City has 
     committed to providing downpayment assistance. Perhaps more 
     importantly, we have seen a marked rise in the number of 
     minority households achieving homeownership status which 
     should make a dramatic impact in the health of our 
     neighborhood over time. I understand that Fannie Mae has been 
     instrumental in building the reach and capacity of the 
     homeownership

[[Page E417]]

     counseling and educational group as evidenced by the 
     formation of the Counseling Collaborative.
       The Partnership Office has helped or is helping on a number 
     of other fronts as well. In May 1997, with the help of the 
     Partnership Office, we passed a City Ordinance which 
     prioritizes homeownership efforts. This ordinance was passed 
     unanimously and had the strong backing of City department 
     heads, the private sector and neighborhood leaders. We now 
     are working with Fannie Mae on a much more challenging 
     initiative; helping owner-occupiers in the City who face 
     ``negative equity'' mortgage situations get access to more 
     affordable mortgage rates. I pledge to do everything in my 
     power to work with Fannie Mae to create a solution to this 
     important issue facing a significant number of Hartford 
     homeowners.
       The City of Hartford values the relationship we have with 
     Fannie Mae. I wish to congratulate you on the success you 
     have earned so far. We look forward to a continued close 
     partnership as Hartford moves forward with its revitalization 
     agenda and its goal to increasing the homeownership rate in 
     our city.
           Sincerely,
                                                Michael P. Peters,
     Mayor.
                                                                    ____



                                          Office of the Mayor,

                                       Houston, TX, March 3, 1998.
     Mr. James A. Johnson,
     Chairman, Fannie Mae,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Jim: On behalf of the City of Houston, I would like to 
     congratulate Fannie Mae on this fourth anniversary of your 
     Trillion Dollar Commitment to assist ten million families 
     attain decent and affordable housing by the year 2000, and to 
     transform the mortgage finance industry to better address 
     barriers to homeownership. With this initiative, Fannie Mae 
     is demonstrating the leadership and foresight needed to meet 
     the challenges of homeownership for all families of our great 
     country.
       I am the newly elected mayor of Houston, but I have been 
     apprised of your HouseHouston investment strategy and the 
     good work Fannie Mae has done in our city. If other areas of 
     the country are experiencing Fannie Mae's presence as we are, 
     then exceptional progress is being made toward the goals of 
     your Commitment. I am particularly pleased with your 
     Partnership Office under the direction of J.J. Smith. The 
     office is doing a terrific job of building partnerships and 
     making more of our neighborhoods and housing professionals 
     aware of resources available to meet their affordable housing 
     objectives.
       Our City is very ethnically diverse. Thus, lending to the 
     minority families, developers and builders is extremely 
     important to our well being. With investments from Fannie 
     Mae, mortgages for minority first-time home buyers is up and 
     four minority neighborhoods have seen the first significantly 
     newly constructed multifamily apartment projects in over 30 
     years. A new subdivision will be developed in a minority 
     neighborhood with an equity investment from Fannie Mae. More 
     than twenty community-based and counseling organizations have 
     greater capacity to serve homebuyers as a result of your 
     counseling software and training. And neighborhood 
     revitalization is progressing with the assistance of a $10 
     million Fannie Mae line of credit.
       We are pleased with our partnership with Fannie Mae and 
     look forward to even greater accomplishments with you over 
     the next few years. Again, congratulations for your successes 
     under HouseHouston and the Trillion Dollar Commitment.
           Sincerely,
                                                     Lee P. Brown,
     Mayor.
                                                                    ____



                                          Office of the Mayor,

                                         Miami, FL, March 6, 1998.
     Mr. James A. Johnson,
     Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Fannie Mae, Washington, 
         DC.
       Dear Jim: I wish to congratulate Fannie Maw on its 
     leadership as you celebrate the fourth anniversary of the 
     bold and far reaching ``Trillion Dollar Commitment'' to 
     affordable housing initiative. The ''Trillion Dollar 
     Commitment'' represents yet another outstanding Fannie Mae 
     accomplishment in making home ownership and affordable 
     housing more accessible.
       Since July, 1995, Miami-Dade County has seen the opening of 
     a Partnership Office that has energized our housing, 
     community, enlightened the dialogue in our community about 
     affordable housing and offered a variety of solutions to 
     address our needs. The local Partnership Office, under the 
     exemplary leadership of Shalley Jones, has become a key 
     partner in our housing industry and in any affordable housing 
     project. It has focused on all aspects of lending with a 
     strong focus on engaging minority and low-income populations 
     in the discussion. We value the relationship we have with 
     Fannie Mae and the major role the local Partnership Office 
     plays in our community.
       During its second year of existence, the local Partnership 
     Office assisted more than 18,000 families, of which more than 
     81% were minority borrowers, in obtaining affordable housing 
     through the Fannie Mae Community Home Buyers Program. Two 
     community development financial institutions can do more 
     community lending because of the $200,000.00 in deposits made 
     by Fannie Mae. There have been four underwriting experiments 
     that have addressed the critical financing needs of first 
     time home buyers, new immigrants and rehab housing in this 
     community. Our counseling agencies are better able to aid new 
     home buyers because of the 45 new software packages provided 
     to non-profits, training sessions held and housing 
     collaboratives established. I joined the Partnership Office 
     in hosting two housing fairs that provided over 13,000 
     residents with information on how to buy a home. Clearly, the 
     Fannie Mae Partnership Office in Miami-Dade County has had an 
     extremely positive impact on housing finance in our county.
       We wish to congratulate you on the success you have 
     achieved thus far under the Trillion Dollar Commitment. We 
     look forward to the next several years of continued 
     partnership and expansion of markets and home buying 
     opportunities for all of our citizens.
           Sincerely,
     Alex Penelas, Mayor.

                          ____________________