[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 38, Number 25 (Monday, June 24, 2002)]
[Pages 1026-1030]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at St. Paul AME Church in Atlanta, Georgia

June 17, 2002

    The President. Thank you all very much for that wonderful Atlanta 
welcome. It's nice to be back in this incredibly important community.
    You know, our Nation faces a lot of huge challenges. Right now we've 
got 60,000 troops fighting terrorism so that we can be free, all of us 
can be free. I appreciate so very much the resolve and unity and 
determination of this great land. I appreciate our military for their 
sacrifices. We're also doing everything we can to secure the homeland, 
to make sure that those who hate us won't take innocent life again.
    And as we work for a more secure world, we've got to work for a 
better world too. And that means, as we work on our security from 
possible attacks by terrorists, we also work on economic security. The 
two securities go hand in hand. Anybody who wants a job who can't find 
one means we've got a problem. In Washington, they talk statistics all 
the time, and that's important. People who count

[[Page 1027]]

numbers need to make a living too. [Laughter] But my attitude is, if 
somebody can't find work and they want to work, we've got to continue to 
work on expanding the job base.
    And part of economic security is owning your own home. Part of being 
a secure America is to encourage homeownership, so somebody can say, 
``This is my home. Welcome to my home.''
    Now, we've got a problem here in America that we have to address. 
Too many American families, too many minorities do not own a home. There 
is a homeownership gap in America. The difference between Anglo America 
and African American and Hispanic homeownership is too big. And we've 
got to focus the attention on this Nation to address this. And it starts 
with setting a goal. And so by the year 2010, we must increase minority 
homeowners by at least 5\1/2\ million. In order to close the 
homeownership gap, we've got to set a big goal for America and focus our 
attention and resources on that goal.
    And I picked a good man to help realize that goal, in Mel Martinez. 
I don't know if you know Mel's story, but it's an interesting story. Mel 
was born in Cuba. [Applause] Yes, Mel brought his cousins with him--
[laughter]--all two of them, anyway. [Laughter] But Mel's mother and 
daddy--Mel's mother and dad put him on an airplane to come to America 
when he was a young boy, because they didn't want his son growing up in 
a country that wasn't free. Think about that; think about the courage of 
a mom or a dad and their love for freedom--love freedom so much that 
they would put their child in the hands of loving Americans. And Mom and 
Dad eventually came. And here he now sits, as a member of the 
President's Cabinet. What a great country we have.
    My point is, Mel understands what it means to dream and then to work 
to realize the dreams. I've also picked a fine friend of mine from Texas 
named Alphonso Jackson to serve as the Deputy of HUD. And where are you, 
Alphonso? There he is. I appreciate you. These are can-do people. So 
when we set a goal, they understand their job is to work toward that 
goal.
    I also want to thank the mayor of Atlanta, Georgia, for being here, 
Shirley Franklin. Thank you for coming, Madam Mayor. Much of the success 
of this program is going to depend--depends upon the ability for the 
Federal Government to work with State and local governments. And I know 
the mayor has got a strong commitment to housing for all people and to 
end the ownership gap. Madam Mayor, thanks for coming.
    I appreciate as well Johnny Isakson and John Linder, members of the 
Georgia congressional delegation, for coming today. Thank you all for 
being here. I want to thank Franklin Raines of Fannie Mae and Leland 
Brendsel of Freddie Mac. Thank you all for coming.
    Today I had the pleasure of seeing an entrepreneur's work firsthand, 
an Atlanta citizen who also dreamt a dream, and that is to develop a 
piece of blighted property so others could benefit from her vision and 
hard work. Masharn Wilson is here. She is a president and CEO--Masharn 
is the president and CEO of her own company. Part of the economic 
security is not only owning a home; part of it is, if you have the 
entrepreneurial instincts, is to own your own business as well. So I 
want to appreciate you, Masharn. I appreciate your hard work.
    And one other person I want to announce is a fellow named Darryl 
Hicks. Where are you, Darryl?
    Darryl Hicks. Right here.
    The President. There you are. Darryl Hicks is here. I want to--
Darryl is--one of the things I remind our fellow citizens, if you're 
interested in defeating evil, do some good. You see, we're going to 
fight with our military, but we can also fight with our hearts. And a 
country which has been under attack can respond by loving your neighbor 
like you'd like to be loved yourself.
    And this man right here is a fellow, Darryl Hicks, who works for 
Habitat for Humanity programs. He's interested in lending his heart and 
his talents to helping a neighbor in need. America can be changed one 
heart, one soul, one conscience at a time, so long as we are willing to 
love a neighbor like we'd like to be loved ourselves. I want to thank 
you, Darryl. I want to thank Darryl for being a soldier in the army of 
compassion.
    And I also want to thank Reverend Dr. Thomas Bess for opening up 
this beautiful church. You know, one of my passions is the

[[Page 1028]]

Faith-Based Initiative. It is important that Congress not fear faith-
based programs but welcome faith-based programs, so we can help change 
people's lives. I find it most interesting that we would be talking 
about how we help people in a church. After all, that's why churches 
exist.
    Audience members. Um-hmm.
    The President. And so I am--I want to thank the church staff for 
opening up this beautiful facility to the army which follows me around. 
[Laughter]
    I do believe in the American Dream. I believe there is such a thing 
as the American Dream. And I believe those of us who have been given 
positions of responsibility must do everything we can to spotlight the 
dream and to make sure the dream shines in all neighborhoods, all 
throughout our country. Owning a home is a part of that dream; it just 
is. Right here in America, if you own your own home, you're realizing 
the American Dream.
    You know, today I went to the--to some of the home--met some of the 
homeowners in these newly built homes, and all you've got to do is shake 
their hand and listen to their stories and watch the pride that they 
exhibit when they show you the kitchen and the stairs. So people like 
Ken Beatty, who is an environmentalist; or Al Smith, a probation 
officer; or Geary Jefferson, a database administrator; or Darrin West, 
an Atlanta police officer; Tamika Henry--Tomika Henry Cole: These are 
all people that I've met. They've come over here today. They showed me 
their home. They didn't show me somebody else's home; they showed me 
their home. And they are so proud to own their home, and I want to thank 
them for their hospitality, because it helps the American people really 
understand what it means.
    And what we've got to do is to figure out how to make sure these 
stories are repeated over and over and over again in America. Three-
quarters of White America owns their homes. Less than 50 percent of 
African Americans are part of the homeownership in America, and less 
than 50 percent of the Hispanics who live here in this country own their 
home. And that has got to change for the good of the country; it just 
does.
    And so here are some of the ways to address the issue. First, the 
single greatest barrier to first-time homeownership is a high 
downpayment. It is really hard for many, many low-income families to 
make the high downpayment. And so that's why I propose and urge Congress 
to fully fund the American Dream Downpayment Fund. This will use money, 
taxpayers' money to help a qualified low-income buyer make a 
downpayment, and that's important.
    One of the barriers to homeownership is the inability to make a 
downpayment. And if one of the goals is to increase homeownership, it 
makes sense to help people pay that downpayment. We believe that the 
amount of money in our budget, fully approved by Congress, will help 
40,000 families every year realize the dream of owning a home. Part of 
the success of Park Place is that the city of Atlanta already does this. 
And we want to make the plan more robust. We want to make it more full 
all across America.
    Secondly, there is a lack of affordable housing in certain 
neighborhoods. Too many neighborhoods, especially in inner-city America, 
lack affordable housing units. How can you promote homeownership if 
people can't afford a home?
    And so what I've done is propose what we call a single-family 
affordable housing tax credit, to encourage the development of 
affordable housing in neighborhoods where housing is scarce. Over 5 
years, the initiative amounts to $2.4 billion in tax credits, and that 
will help. It will help a lot to build homes where people can--where 
when fully implemented, people will be able to say, ``I own my home.''
    A third major barrier is the complexity and difficulty of the home 
buying process. There's a lot of fine print on these forms. And it 
bothers people; it makes them nervous. And so therefore, what Mel has 
agreed to do and Alphonso Jackson has agreed to do is to streamline the 
process, make the rules simpler, so everybody understands what they 
are--makes the closing much less complicated. We certainly don't want 
there to be a fine print preventing people from owning their home. We 
can change the print, and we've got to.

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    We've got to be wise about how we deal with the closing documents 
and all the regulations but also wise about how we help people 
understand what it means to own their home and the obligations and the 
opportunities. And so, therefore, education is a critical component of 
increasing ownership throughout America: Financial education, housing 
counseling, how to help people understand that there are unscrupulous 
lenders. And so one of the things we're going to do is, we're going to 
promote education, the education of owning a home, the education of 
buying a home throughout our society.
    And we want to fully implement the Section 8 housing program, 
homeownership program. The program will provide vouchers that first-time 
home buyers can use to help pay their mortgage or apply to their 
downpayment. Many of the partners today, many of the people here today, 
many of the business leaders here today are creating a market for the 
mortgages where Section 8 vouchers are a source of the payment, and 
that's good. See, it's an underpinning of capital. It helps move capital 
to where we want capital to go.
    And so these are important initiatives that we can do at the Federal 
Government. And the Federal Government, obviously, has to play an 
important role, and we will--we will. I mean, when I lay out a goal, I 
mean it. But we also have got to bring others into the process, most 
particularly the real estate industry. After all, the real estate 
industry benefits when people are encouraged to buy homes. It's in their 
self-interest that we encourage people to buy homes.
    And so one of the things that I'm going to talk about a little bit 
today is how to create a sustained commitment by the private sector that 
will have a powerful impact. First of all, we want to make sure that we 
help work to expand capital available to buyers and, as I mentioned, 
overcome the barriers that I've delineated as well as provide the 
education component. In other words, this is not just a Federal 
responsibility.
    That's why I've challenged the industry leaders all across the 
country to get after it for this goal, to stay focused, to make sure 
that we achieve a more secure America by achieving the goal of 5\1/2\ 
million new minority homeowners. I call it America's homeownership 
challenge.
    And let me talk about some of the progress which we have made to 
date, as an example for others to follow. First of all, Government-
sponsored corporations that help create our mortgage system--I 
introduced two of the leaders here today; they call those people Fannie 
Mae and Freddie Mac--as well as the Federal Home Loan Banks will 
increase their commitment to minority markets by more than $440 billion. 
I want to thank Leland and Franklin for that commitment. It's a 
commitment that conforms to their charters as well and also conforms to 
their hearts. This means they will purchase more loans made by banks to 
African Americans, Hispanics, and other minorities, which will encourage 
homeownership.
    Freddie Mac will launch 25 initiatives to eliminate homeownership 
barriers. Under one of these, consumers with poor credit will be able to 
get a mortgage with an interest rate that automatically goes down after 
a period of consistent payments.
    Fannie Mae will establish 100 partnerships with faith-based 
organizations that will provide home buyer education and help increase 
homeownership for their congregations. I love the partnership.
    The Enterprise Foundation and the Local Initiatives Support 
Corporation will increase efforts to build and rehabilitate more homes 
in inner cities at affordable prices by working with local community 
development corporations. In my home State of Texas, Enterprise helped 
turn the once-decaying Ideal Neighborhood of Dallas into a vibrant 
community by building homes that were sold to residents at affordable 
prices.
    The National Association of Home Builders will team up with local 
officials, homebuilder associations, and community groups in 20 of our 
Nation's largest housing markets, to focus on how to eliminate barriers 
and encourage homeownership.
    The Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation will dramatically expand 
financial and home buyer education efforts to 380,000 minority families.
    The Neighborhood Housing Services of America will raise $750 million 
to promote

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homeownership initiatives in many communities.
    We're beginning to use the Internet better, so that realtors all 
across the country will be able to call up programs all designed to help 
minority home buyers understand what's available, what's possible, and 
what to avoid. The National Realtors Association will create a central 
databank of affordable housing programs, which will be made available to 
agents, real estate agents, to help people.
    So these are some of the beginnings of a national effort. And I want 
to thank all those who are responsible for the organizations I just 
named for lending your talents to this important effort for America.
    You know, one of the things Presidents can do is, they can call the 
old conference. So I'm going to call one--[laughter]--just to make sure 
people understand not only are we serious but to let them check in. If 
they've signed up and said they're going to help, this will give 
everybody a chance to say, ``Here's what I've done to help.'' It's what 
we call accountability.
    And so this fall, we're going to have a White House conference. It 
is a White House conference specifically designed to address the 
homeownership gap. It is a White House conference that will not only 
say, ``What have you done to date''; ``Have you got any new ideas that 
we can share with others,'' as well. I'm serious about this. This is a 
very important initiative for all of America. See, it is a chance for us 
to empower people. We're not going to talk about empowering Government; 
we're talking about empowering people, so they have got choices over 
their lives.
    I want to go back to where I started. I believe out of the evil done 
to America will come incredible good. I believe that as sure as I'm 
standing here. I believe we can achieve peace. I believe that we can 
address hopelessness and despair where hopelessness and despair exist. 
And listen, I understand that in this great country, there are too many 
people who say, ``This American Dream, what does that mean? My eyes are 
shut to the American Dream. I don't see the dream.'' And we'd better 
make sure, for the good of the country, that the dream is vibrant and 
alive.
    It starts with having great education systems for every single 
child. It means that we unleash the faith-based programs to help change 
people's hearts, which will help change their lives. It means we use the 
mighty muscle of the Federal Government in combination with State and 
local governments to encourage owning your own home. That's what that 
means. And it means--it means that each of us--each of us--have a 
responsibility in the great country to put something greater than 
ourselves--to promote something greater than ourselves.
    And to me, that something greater than yourself is to love a 
neighbor like you'd like to be loved yourself. In order to change 
America and to make sure the great American Dream shines in every 
community--every community--we must unleash the compassion and kindness 
of the greatest nation on the face of the Earth.
    I'm honored to be here today. I want to thank you for your interest. 
God bless you all, and God bless America.

Note: The President spoke at 11:10 a.m. in the Mary Jordan Family Life 
Center at the church. In his remarks, he referred to Franklin D. Raines, 
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Fannie Mae; Leland C. Brendsel, 
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Freddie Mac; Darryl Hicks, member, 
board of directors, Atlanta Habitat for Humanity; Masharn Wilson, 
president and chief executive officer, Infinity Development Group, LLC; 
and Rev. Thomas Bess, pastor, St. Paul AME Church.