[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 40, Number 12 (Monday, March 22, 2004)]
[Pages 409-413]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks in a Discussion on Homeownership in Ardmore, Pennsylvania

March 15, 2004

    The President. Thanks for the warm welcome. Thanks for coming today. 
You're probably wondering what we're doing here. I'll tell you what 
we're going to do. We're going to talk about one of the most exciting 
things that can happen to a person, and that is the purchase of a home. 
That's what we're here to discuss, homeownership and how best to help 
people buy a home and what is it like to be someone who wonders about 
homeownership and the struggles of trying to figure out all the fine 
print and how to get something done. That's what we're really here to 
talk about.
    But before we do, I want to thank Mary Frances Reilly of the YMCA 
for her--[applause]. Mary Frances told me she was a runner. I told her I 
used to be a runner. [Laughter] Turns out, when you get older it's kind 
of hard to run a lot, isn't it, Mary Frances? But thank you for your 
hospitality. I'm so grateful you're here.
    I want to thank my friend Alphonso Jackson, who is the Acting 
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. That means he's waiting for 
Senate confirmation, which I'm confident the Senate will do soon. Where 
are you, Alphonso? There he is. Thanks for coming. I'm glad you're here.
    Alphonso and I have set a job: We want to close the minority 
homeownership gap in America; we want more people owning their own home; 
and we want more of our minorities owning their own home as well. We 
think it's in the best interests of the country that more people own 
something. When you own something you call your own, you have a vital 
stake in the future of our Nation. So we've set this goal, and we'll 
talk about some ways how to achieve this goal. But Alphonso is the right 
man for the job. He's run housing authorities before. He knows what he's 
doing. The Senate needs to get him in there pretty quick.
    Speaking about Senators, I'm honored that Senator Arlen Specter is 
with me today. Arlen, thank you for coming. I consider Arlen Specter an 
ally and a friend. Oh, he doesn't do everything you ask him to do all 
the time, but when you need him, he's there. He's an independent voice 
for the great State of Pennsylvania, and he's doing a fine job as a 
United States Senator. I appreciate you coming.
    Jim Gerlach is with us as well--Jim, thanks for coming; I'm proud 
you're here--as is Congressman Jim Greenwood. Jim, thanks for coming. 
It's good to see both of the Congressmen. Thanks for taking your time 
out.
    I see that Chairman Jim Matthews is with us. Chairman, I'm glad 
you're here. He is the smart brother. [Laughter] Well, it's an inside 
joke.
    I appreciate other county commissioners being here. Commissioner 
Ellis and State and local officials. And thank you all for coming.
    Before we begin a little talk about the economy and homeownership, I 
do want to make mention of a fellow named Robert Bright. Robert, where 
are you? There he is. Thank you for coming, Robert. You don't know 
Robert. I didn't know him until I landed at the airport. He is a mentor. 
He is what I call a soldier in the army of compassion. You know, a lot 
of times we talk about the strength of our country being our military--
and that is part of the strength of the country, and we intend to keep 
the military strong--or the fact that we're a wealthy nation, and that's 
important. But the true strength of the country is the heart and souls 
of our citizens. It's really the true strength of America, the fact that 
there are people who are willing to take time out of their life to 
volunteer, to save a life, or to make sure a child has got a better 
future.
    Robert has been a mentor at Big Brothers and Big Sisters. He knows 
what I know, that you can change our country one heart and one soul at a 
time, that Government is not a loving organization. It's an organization 
of law and justice, but love emanates in our hearts. And the reason I've 
asked Robert to come to introduce him is because I encourage anybody who 
wants to serve their country to do--to mentor a child or to be involved 
with the YMCA or to get involved with the Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts, to 
make a difference by taking time out of your life to help heal a soul 
that hurts. Robert, thanks for the

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example you've set, and thanks for coming today.
    I hope you can tell that I'm an optimistic fellow, because--and one 
reason why is because I've seen what this country has been through. We 
went through a recession and a stock market decline. We went through an 
attack. We got attacked by a bunch of coldblooded killers, and the 
attack hurt. It hurt our psyche because we thought oceans could protect 
us. It hurt the fact--we lost a million jobs after September the 11th.
    But we're a strong nation, and we're a resilient nation. We began to 
recover. And then we discovered another thing that was harmful to 
economic growth and vitality and confidence, and that is we had some 
people who didn't tell the truth that were running corporations in 
America. We had some CEOs that weren't honest with their shareholders 
and their employees. And we passed tough laws that said, ``We're not 
going to tolerate dishonesty in the boardrooms of America.'' You're now 
beginning to see on your TV screens what we're talking about. People are 
being held to account. And that hurt our economy.
    And then, as you know, I made a very difficult decision, but the 
right decision, to secure our country by holding Saddam Hussein to 
account. But nevertheless, we had the--if you remember, we had on our TV 
screens the phrase ``March to War.'' Any time a nation is marching to 
war, it's not conducive for confident thinking. Nobody wants to march to 
war. It's a negative thought. Now we're marching to peace, by the way. 
We're on our way to--[applause].
    But it was tough times, and yet we're growing. The economy is strong 
and getting stronger. The manufacturing report today was very positive, 
another indication of the economy strengthening. Unemployment is 
dropping here in the State of Pennsylvania. There are still people 
looking for work, make no mistake about it, but it's getting better. 
Interest rates are low, which is important if you're a first-time 
homebuyer. Inflation is down, which is important. We're going to keep 
working on jobs.
    One thing we're not going to do is get ourselves isolated from the 
world. I will fight off economic isolationism, which would be bad for 
job creation here in the State of Pennsylvania.
    But we've overcome a lot, and that's why I'm optimistic. We've 
overcome a lot because we've got people who refuse to be intimidated by 
terrorists. We've overcome a lot because of a tax policy that left 
money--more money in the hands of the people that earned it. And when 
you've got more money in your pocket, you go out and demand an 
additional good or a service. And when somebody demands a good or a 
service, in our economy, somebody produces the good or a service. And 
when somebody makes that good or a service, it means somebody is likely 
to keep a job or find work.
    The tax policies we passed made a lot of sense, and there's more to 
do. The first thing that Congress needs to do is not take that tax 
relief away from the people and not raise the taxes on the people. I 
don't know if you followed this debate that we're having up there in the 
Nation's Capital right now--or down there in the Nation's Capital; I'm 
used to saying up there in the Nation's Capital--if Congress doesn't 
act, the child credit is going to go down, which is raising taxes on the 
people with children. If the Congress doesn't act, the marriage penalty 
is going up. By the way, it doesn't make any sense to penalize marriage 
in the Tax Code. We ought to be encouraging marriage, not penalizing 
marriage in our Tax Code. If the Congress doesn't act, they're going to 
be raising the taxes on people who work, and it makes no sense.
    There's other things we need to do as well. We need to worry about 
the cost of health care. Small businesses need to be able to pool 
their--be able to pool risk with association health care plans, so their 
employees can have more affordable health care. We need to expand health 
savings accounts. We need medical liability reform in Washington, DC. We 
need an energy bill. It's hard to be a manufacturer in the State of 
Pennsylvania if you're worried about where your next energy is coming 
from. And we need a bill.
    There's a lot of things we need to do in Washington to make sure 
that this economy continues to grow and people can find work. And one of 
the things we need to do is to continue with good housing policy. And 
that's

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what we're here to talk about today. Homeownership in America is at the 
highest rate ever. It's a fantastic statement to say that, isn't it? 
Homeownership is at the highest rate ever. That means there's more 
people ever in our history are able to say, ``I own something. I own my 
own home.''
    I went to Pearl's home, and it was pretty special--really special, 
wasn't it? She said, ``This is my home.'' When I walked up the stairs, 
she didn't say this is anybody else's home but her home. She said, 
``Would you come into my home, please. Would you come in and meet my 
four children in our home.'' And it was a fantastic experience to come 
to a first-time homeowners's home and visit with her family. It made me 
feel good. It made her feel nervous. She hadn't seen that many 
automobiles on her street. [Laughter]
    But she was great, and it was wonderful to see. We're going to talk 
to Pearl in a minute about how she made the decision to buy a home. See, 
if somebody is listening to this program, I want you to listen to 
Pearl's story. Probably in her mind, she never was going to ever own a 
home until something happened. There are some things we can do in 
Government policy to help people own a home.
    One of the things we can do is to help people with the downpayment. 
A lot of people say, ``I want to own a home,'' and then they get looking 
at the downpayment, and they realize they can't even get beyond the 
downpayment phase. And so we passed a good law out of the United States 
Congress to help people with their downpayments. That money will start 
to be disbursed soon, with a program such as Genesis, to help people 
with the downpayment.
    The other thing we can do, and you're going to hear some stories 
today about how these housing counselors help people get beyond the fear 
of signing a contract full of small print. I mean, if you've never owned 
a home and you're looking at these contracts, it's a little 
intimidating. If you think that the President coming to your house is 
intimidating, wait until you look at one of those contracts, isn't that 
right?
    And so we're going to talk about a program that we've instituted 
through HUD that helps with educating people. And Nikki is going to talk 
to us about that in a second. I believe Congress ought to pass tax 
credits to encourage homebuilding, affordable homes in areas that need 
affordable homes.
    We've set a grand goal. We want to close the minority homeownership 
gap, and there are three practical ways to encourage the construction of 
a home and to help homebuyers buy a home. I readily concede there's 
nothing like low interest rates to stimulate homeownership. And so I 
suggest that people listening out there, if you're interested in buying 
a home, take advantage of the low rates. Take advantage of those low 
rates. Lock in good, low mortgages to make your future so bright.
    Nikki Holcroft is with us today. Nikki, tell us what you do. Thank 
you for coming. Nikki is a sweet soul who cares deeply about the people 
she's helping.

[At this point, Ms. Holcroft, housing counselor, Genesis Housing Corp., 
Lansdale, PA, made brief remarks.]

    The President. You might have more than one customer out there, you 
know? [Laughter]
    One of the things, as I said, we emphasize is counseling services. 
It sounds like kind of a simple thing, but it's a profound opportunity 
for help. And you'll hear from Pearl. Are you about ready? [Laughter]
    Pearl Cerdan. Yes, sir.
    The President. How many kids have you got?
    Ms. Cerdan. I have six, but four of them are with me.
    The President. Yes, I met them all. How many cats?
    Ms. Cerdan. One.
    The President. I met it. [Laughter] When did you start thinking 
about buying a home?
    Ms. Cerdan. Well, like Nikki said, I had--about 3\1/2\ years ago, I 
had started. I was thinking then, but it was only a thought. And then I 
came back----
    The President. Was it a dream or a thought?
    Ms. Cerdan. Well, at first it was a thought, but then it became a 
dream.
    The President. I got you.
    Ms. Cerdan. Did I say that right? [Laughter]

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    The President. It's your dream. It's not ours. [Laughter] You're 
doing great.

[Ms. Cerdan, first-time homebuyer, Ardmore, PA, made further remarks.]

    The President. Now, Judy is the cofounder of Genesis. Is that an 
accurate statement?
    Judy Memberg. Yes, it is.
    The President. She's a social entrepreneur.
    Ms. Memberg. I've never been called that, but okay. [Laughter]
    The President. It's a plus.
    Ms. Memberg. Sounds good. [Laughter]
    The President. Why don't you tell us how you got the idea and talk 
about Genesis right quick.

[Ms. Memberg, refinancer and executive director, Genesis Housing Corp., 
Norristown, PA, made brief remarks.]

    The President. Right. It's interesting, this Ardmore project was on 
an abandoned filling station.
    Ms. Memberg. Yes, it was.
    The President. And you got brownfield money.
    Ms. Memberg. Yes, there were some environmental problems with 
gasoline in the soil that had to be cleaned up. And there was some 
funding that made that available, because anytime you get into 
environmental problems, it gets very expensive.
    The President. Right. And so when did you see the house you're going 
to buy?
    Ms. Cerdan. When did I see it?
    The President. Yes, first see it.
    Ms. Cerdan. The first time I'd seen it was I think, like July.
    The President. Really?
    Ms. Cerdan. Yes, sir.
    The President. And you bought it in----
    Ms. Cerdan. December the 16th of 2003.
    The President. Fantastic--homeowner.
    Penny is with us. Penny, you're in the process of buying a home. Is 
that accurate?
    Penny Wolk. That's accurate, Mr. President. [Laughter]
    The President. All right, let her go. [Laughter] Tell us about 
yourself, please, ma'am.

[Ms. Wolk, potential homebuyer, Norristown, PA, made brief remarks.]

    The President. And so where are we in the process? Judy, maybe you 
can give us a hand here?
    Ms. Memberg. Penny is going to be one of the buyers in the second 
phase of the project, and there's four more houses are going to be 
built, and she should be signing an agreement of sale in about 2 weeks.
    The President. Good. Explain what it's like to be somebody who wants 
to buy a home, and you're kind of lost, I guess, in the process, is 
maybe a good way to say it. What does Genesis do, how do they--if 
somebody is listening out there that probably is in your position----
    Ms. Holcroft. What does Genesis do?
    The President. Yes, how do you find out how to----

[Ms. Holcroft made further remarks.]

    The President. You can't live in a home unless you've got somebody 
who is willing to build them. And Scott Cannon is a homebuilder. He's 
the president of Cannon Custom Homes.
    Scott Cannon. Thank you, Mr. President.
    The President. Did you bring your family with you--I can see. 
[Laughter]
    Mr. Cannon. I've got the family here.
    The President. Tell us about your business. Tell us about what it's 
like to be a homebuilder in the Philadelphia area.

[Mr. Cannon made brief remarks.]

    The President. One of the things we were talking about backstage was 
the--about how if there is a local forum, that ought to be good enough 
for the Federal Government, I guess is the country-boy way of 
summarizing what we're talking about. And that's beginning to happen.
    Mr. Cannon. I haven't seen it yet.
    The President. Well, it should be happening. I mean, it's supposed 
to be happening soon, is what I understand. [Laughter]
    Mr. Cannon. To a theater near you. [Laughter]
    The President. That's right. How about tort reform? You could use a 
little tort reform, couldn't you?

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    Mr. Cannon. Well, we could use tort reform, sure--the class-action 
lawsuits and things like that that we truly do fear, of course. But 
again, that's just a cost that we pass on to Pearl and Penny. It's not 
something that--really you're not coming after me. I just have to pay 
more for insurance, and I pass it on to the homebuyer.
    The President. No, that's exactly right. Are you building any homes 
these days?
    Mr. Cannon. Yes, we're building a few. We've had a challenge the 
last year or so with the weather, but things are going good.
    The President. Well, I might be able to do something with the 
bureaucracy, but--[laughter].
    Mr. Cannon. That would be enough. [Laughter] We'll deal with the 
weather.
    The President. Judy, you got anything else you want to share with 
anybody who might be listening out there about buying a home?
    Ms. Memberg. I think the thing that's really important is that with 
housing counseling, anyone can put together a plan on how they can 
become a homebuyer. Some people, it's a very short process; some people 
are very familiar with being homeowners or their family has been 
homeowners. But a lot of people who, if their parents aren't homeowners, 
really don't know where to start. And a good housing counseling agency 
can really guide you through that process.
    The President. Right. And I presume there's a lot of housing 
counseling agencies around the area?
    Ms. Memberg. There are a few. There are many in Philadelphia. There 
are a few in Montgomery County. But there's a lot of good counselors out 
there to find one that matches up with your need.
    The President. Good. Well, listen, if somebody's listening, I hope, 
and are interested in buying a home, there's opportunity here in this 
part of the world. You've heard two ladies say that they've been able to 
overcome the fears of homeownership and kind of the mental blocks 
associated with homeownership, because they were able to receive 
counseling. And the counseling is available. We want more people owning 
their home. That's what we want. We want you to feel comfortable about 
coming--thinking about buying your own home so that when somebody knocks 
on your door, you open that door and say, ``Welcome to my home,'' just 
like this good lady did to me today.
    Listen, thank you all for coming. It's been a joy to be here. I want 
to thank you for your stories. May God bless you all.

Note: The President spoke at 2:57 p.m. at the Main Line YMCA. In his 
remarks, he referred to Mary Frances Reilly, executive director, Main 
Line YMCA; James R. Matthews, chairman, and Thomas Jay Ellis, 
commissioner, Montgomery County Commission, Montgomery County, PA; and 
former President Saddam Hussein of Iraq. The Office of the Press 
Secretary also released a Spanish language transcript of these remarks.