On August 30, 2006 the NAACP and the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) hosted a press conference to announce the key findings and policy recommendations contained in Building on a Dream, a joint housing report focused on the state of minority housing opportunity in America. Several corporate, non-profit, and governmental representatives, including HUD Assistant Secretary of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity Kim Kendrick, were in attendance to support this groundbreaking initiative.
Building on a Dream begins by examining the current state of minority housing opportunity. The report goes on to discuss barriers to housing choice and affordability, which primarily fall into two categories—racial discrimination and lack of supply of affordable housing. The report also discusses the economic and social benefits of increased minority homeownership, which include the fact that the construction of 100 single-family homes generates $11.6 million in new income to local businesses, creates 250 jobs, and raises $1.4 million in additional local taxes and fees in the first year of construction alone. Additionally, the report explains that it is imperative that all communities provide a mix of housing in a wide range of prices to ensure that homeownership is within the economic reach of the teachers, police offices, firefighters, healthcare workers, and service and retail employees who serve these communities.
The report concludes with nine policy recommendations, as well as action steps that both organizations have pledged to take to demonstrate their commitment to this project. The recommendations and action steps focus on providing home-buyer education, eliminating predatory lending practices, preventing racial discrimination through increased enforcement of the nation's Fair Housing laws, increasing funding for federal housing programs like HOME, Section 8 rental assistance vouchers, and Community Development Block Grants, maintaining existing housing preferences in the federal tax code, and promoting the production of new affordable housing. Download Executive Summary (pdf, 586 kb) Download Long Version (pdf, 953 kb) Download Appendix with Maps & Statistics (ppt, 6,262 kb)
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