[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 38, Number 25 (Monday, June 24, 2002)]
[Pages 1030-1034]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on National Homeownership Month

June 18, 2002

    Well, thank you all very much for that kind welcome. I'm here for a 
couple of reasons. First, I want to thank you all for your service to 
the greatest nation on the face of the Earth. I'm here to celebrate 
National Homeownership Month, because I believe owning a home is an 
essential part of economic security. And I'm concerned about the 
security of America.
    I had the pleasure on June the 12th of speaking to the last 
President who visited

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HUD; I wished ``Number 41'' a happy birthday. And I'm glad you've 
invited me here today. I really am. I first am really proud of Mel 
Martinez and Alphonso Jackson. I've known Mel for awhile. I've known 
Alphonso for a long time. There was no question in my mind that these 
two fine Americans would do a great job in leading this important 
agency.
    I want to thank all those who have assumed leadership roles, who 
have left your States and your friends to come and serve America. And 
that's important. Service to our country is an incredibly important part 
of being an American.
    I want to thank all those who have worked here for a short time and 
long time, who will be here after we leave. I want to thank a man named 
Larry Thompson, who has worked here for--where's Larry? Larry's been 
here for 30 years. And I want to--appreciate your service, Larry, and 
thank you for setting such a fine example for many others inside this 
building who serve the country.
    Let me first talk about how to make sure America is secure from a 
group of killers, people who hate--you know what they hate? They hate 
the idea that somebody can go buy a home. They hate freedom. That's what 
they hate. They hate the fact that we worship freely. They don't like 
the thought of Christian, Jew, and Muslim living side by side in peace. 
They don't like that at all. And therefore, they--since they resent our 
freedoms, they feel like they should take out their resentment by 
destroying innocent lives. And this country will do everything we can 
possibly do to protect America. And that's going to mean making sure our 
homeland is secure, and I appreciate the progress we're making on 
setting up a Department of Homeland Security. I know it's going to be 
hard for some in Congress to give up a little power here and there, but 
I think it's going to happen because people realize we're here to serve 
the American people, not here to serve a political party or turf in the 
United States Congress.
    But the best way to secure the homeland is to hunt them down one by 
one. And I mean, hunt them down one by one and bring them to justice, 
which is precisely what America will do.
    I want to thank the choir for coming, the youngsters for being here. 
I just want you to know that when we talk about war, we're really 
talking about peace. We want there to be peace. We want people to live 
in peace all around the world. I mean, our vision for peace extends 
beyond America. We believe in peace in South Asia. We believe in peace 
in the Middle East. We're going to be steadfast toward a vision that 
rejects terror and killing and honors peace and hope.
    I also want the young to know that this country, we don't conquer 
people. We liberate people, because we hold true to our values of life 
and liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The security of our homeland, 
the need to make sure that America is safe and secure while we chase 
peace is my number one priority for the country.
    But I've got another priority as well. I not only want America to be 
safer and stronger; I want America to be better. I want America to be a 
better place. I worry about our economy, because there are people who 
can't find work who want to work. In this town, people look at numbers 
all the time. You know, such and such a number dropped, or this number 
increased. What I worry about are hearts and souls. That's what I worry 
about. And if somebody is trying to find work who can't find work, we 
need to continue to expand our job base.
    We also have got to understand, in this land of plenty, there are 
pockets of hopelessness and despair. You know, I mentioned the word 
``American Dream'' in Atlanta. I also recognize that some people aren't 
sure that dream extends to them. Some people don't even know what the 
dream means. And our job--our jobs, our collective jobs, is to make sure 
that notion of the American Dream extends into every single neighborhood 
around this country.
    I know this isn't the right Department when I talk about education, 
but education, making sure every child is educated and no child is left 
behind, is part of making sure the American Dream extends to every 
single neighborhood in America. And we're making progress in a practical 
way when it comes to educating children because you know

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what? For the first time, the Federal Government says, if you receive 
money, you need to let us know whether the children are learning to read 
and write and add and subtract. And if they are, we'll praise the 
teachers and praise the parents and praise the administrators. But if 
not, if our children can't read and write and add and subtract, instead 
of just hoping something changes, we're going to use the accountability 
system to insist upon change, so every child has a chance to realize the 
dream in America.
    But I believe owning something is a part of the American Dream as 
well. I believe, when somebody owns their own home, they're realizing 
the American Dream. They can say, ``It's my home. It's nobody else's 
home.'' And we saw that yesterday in Atlanta, when we went to the new 
homes of the new homeowners. And I saw with pride, firsthand, the man 
say, ``Welcome to my home.'' He didn't say, ``Welcome to Government's 
home.'' He didn't say, ``Welcome to my neighbor's home.'' He said, 
``Welcome to my home. I own the home, and you're welcome to come in the 
home,'' and I appreciated it. He was a proud man. He was proud that he 
owns the property, and I was proud for him. And I want that pride to 
extend all throughout our country.
    One of the things that we've got to do is to address problems 
straight on and deal with them in a way that helps us meet goals. And so 
I want to talk about a couple of goals and--one goal and a problem.
    The goal is, everybody who wants to own a home has got a shot at 
doing so. The problem is we have what we call a homeownership gap in 
America. Three-quarters of Anglos own their homes, and yet less than 50 
percent of African Americans and Hispanics own homes. That ownership gap 
signals that something might be wrong in the land of plenty, and we need 
to do something about it.
    We are here in Washington, DC, to address problems. So I've set this 
goal for the country: We want 5.5 million more homeowners by 2010--
million more minority homeowners by 2010; 5\1/2\ million families by 
2010 will own a home. That is our goal. It is a realistic goal. But it's 
going to mean we're going to have to work hard to achieve the goal, all 
of us. And by all of us, I mean not only the Federal Government but the 
private sector as well.
    And so I want to, one, encourage you to do everything you can to 
work in a realistic, smart way to get this done. I repeat, we're here 
for a reason. And part of the reason is to make this dream extend 
everywhere. I'm going to do my part by setting the goal, by reminding 
people of the goal, by heralding the goal, and by calling people into 
action, both the Federal level, State level, local level, and in the 
private sector.
    And so what are the barriers that we can deal with here in 
Washington? Well, probably the single barrier to first-time 
homeownership is high downpayments. People take a look at the 
downpayment, they say, ``That's too high. I'm not buying.'' They may 
have the desire to buy, but they don't have the wherewithal to handle 
the downpayment. We can deal with that. And so I've asked Congress to 
fully fund an American Dream Downpayment Fund which will help a low-
income family that have qualified to buy, to buy. We believe when this 
fund is fully funded and properly administered, which it will be under 
the Bush administration, that over 40,000 families a year--40,000 
families a year--will be able to realize the dream we want them to be 
able to realize, and that's owning their own home.
    The second barrier to ownership is the lack of affordable housing. 
There are neighborhoods in America where you just can't find a house 
that's affordable to purchase, and we need to deal with that problem. 
And the best way to do so, I think, is to set up a single family 
affordable housing tax credit to the tune of $2.4 billion over the next 
5 years to encourage affordable single family housing in inner-city 
America.
    The third problem is the fact that the rules are too complex. People 
get discouraged by the fine print on the contracts. They take a look and 
say, ``Well, I'm not so sure I want to sign this. There's too many 
words.'' [Laughter] ``There's too many pitfalls.'' So one of the things 
that the Secretary is going to do is, he's going to simplify the closing 
documents and all the documents that have to deal with homeownership.

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    It is essential that we make it easier for people to buy a home, not 
harder. And in order to do so, we've got to educate folks. Some of us 
take homeownership for granted, but there are people--obviously, the 
home purchase is a significant, significant decision by our fellow 
Americans. We've got people who have newly arrived to our country, don't 
know the customs. We've got people in certain neighborhoods that just 
aren't really sure what it means to buy a home. And it seems like to us 
that it makes sense to have a outreach program, an education program 
that explains the whys and wherefores of buying a house, to make it 
easier for people to not only understand the legal implications and 
ramifications but to make it easier to understand how to get a good 
loan. There are some people out there that can fall prey to unscrupulous 
lenders, and we have an obligation to educate and to use our resource 
base to help people understand how to purchase a home and what--where 
the good opportunities might exist for home purchasing.
    Finally, we want to make sure the Section 8 homeownership program is 
fully implemented. This is a program that provides vouchers for first-
time home buyers which they can use for downpayments and/or mortgage 
payments.
    So this is an ambitious start here at the Federal level. And again, 
I repeat, you all need to help us every way you can. But the private 
sector needs to help too. They need to help too. Of course, it's in 
their interest. If you're a realtor, it's in your interest that somebody 
be interested in buying a home. If you're a homebuilder, it's in your 
interest that somebody be interested in buying a home.
    And so, therefore, I've called--yesterday I called upon the private 
sector to help us and help the home buyers. We need more capital in the 
private markets for first-time, low-income buyers. And I'm proud to 
report that Fannie Mae has heard the call, and as I understand, it's 
about $440 billion over a period of time. They've used their influence 
to create that much capital available for the type of home buyer we're 
talking about here. It's in their charter. It now needs to be 
implemented. Freddie Mac is interested in helping. I appreciate both of 
those agencies providing the underpinnings of good capital.
    There's a lot of faith-based programs that want to be involved with 
educating people about how to buy a home. And we're going to have an 
active outreach from HUD.
    And so this ambitious goal is going to be met. I believe it will be, 
just so long as we keep focused and remember that security at home is--
economic security at home is just an important part of--as homeland 
security. And owning a home is part of that economic security. It's also 
a part of making sure that this country fulfills its great hope and 
vision.
    See, I tell people--and I believe this--that out of the evil done to 
America will come some incredible good. You know, they thought they were 
attacking a country so weak and so feeble that we might file a lawsuit 
or two, and that's all we'd do. [Laughter] That's what they thought. 
We're showing them a different face of America. We're showing them that 
we're plenty tough. When it comes to taking--somebody trying to take 
away our freedoms, we're tough, and we're going to remain tough and 
steadfast.
    But I also want people to see the deep compassion of America as 
well. I want the world to see the other side of our character, which is 
the soft side, the decent side, the loving side. I want people to know 
that when we talk about dreams, we mean big dreams. And when we talk 
about a free society, we want a society in which every citizen has the 
chance to advance, not just a few.
    And part of the cornerstone of America is the ability for somebody, 
regardless of where they're from, regardless of where they were born, to 
say, ``This is my home. I own this home. It is my piece of property. It 
is my part of the American experience.'' It is essential that we stay 
focused on the goal and work hard to achieve that goal. And when it's 
all said and done, we can look back and say, ``Because of my work, 
because of our collective work, America is a better place. Out of evil 
came incredible good.''
    Thank you all for coming by.

Note: The President spoke at 10:30 a.m. in the cafeteria at the 
Department of Housing and Urban Development. In his remarks, he referred

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to Lawrence L. Thompson, General Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy 
Development and Research, HUD. The Office of the Press Secretary also 
released a Spanish language transcript of these remarks.