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Cisneros reteams with Kemp, others to foster home ownership

Web Posted: 09/26/2007 08:41 PM CDT

Gary Martin

WASHINGTON — Building on their past success, former Housing Secretaries Henry Cisneros and Jack Kemp will release a book today that provides a bipartisan guide for cities to meet home ownership challenges.
"Our Communities, Our Homes: Pathways to Housing and Homeownership in America's Cities and States" is the second published report in as many years.

While the pair's first report, "Opportunity and Progress," outlined recommendations on a national level, Cisneros said the second volume deals in practical terms for local entities.

"The principles apply everywhere that housing is a concern," Cisneros said in an interview. "A sound strategy of housing becomes an integral part of any redevelopment."

Cisneros, 60, is executive chairman of CityView, which promotes public-private partnerships and produces middle-class homes.

He served as secretary for the Department of Housing and Urban Development under President Clinton from 1993 to '97.

Kemp, 73, is founder of Kemp Partners, a corporate affairs and government relations firm. He served as HUD secretary under the first President Bush from 1989 to '93 and was the Republican vice presidential nominee in 1996.

The two teamed with Kent Colton, former chairman of the National Association of Home Builders, and Nicolas Retsinas, a HUD official under Cisneros and currently the director of Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies.

Cisneros and Kemp received international recognition for their 2005 report, also done with Retsinas and Colton, for their bipartisan cooperation in conflict resolution and community building.

The two were honored by Search for Common Ground, a nonpartisan group and the world's largest nongovernmental organization.

Past recipients of that award include former President Carter and former Secretary of State James Baker.

The second book was produced before the mortgage crisis that has beset the nation. Cisneros sits on the board of directors of Countrywide Financial Corp., hard-hit by the collapse of the subprime mortgage industry.

Though a serious concern, Cisneros said, the mortgage crisis is cyclical.

"I certainly agree that it is a bump in the road, but it is only that," he said.

Cisneros said the government and the housing industry have to be concerned with families who are overextended or who were given loans that got them into trouble — but that involves private institutions, lenders and public entities.

"Everybody has to play a part," he said. "But this book is about the long run. It's about getting us back on stable ground when the crisis passes.

"Because one of the most important tools for sustaining and building the American middle class is housing — homes for families," he said. "That is the importance of not taking your eye off the ball."

Among the key findings in the 276-page book is that the most effective programs view public housing, rental housing and homeownership as parts of a whole rather than unrelated programs.

The book points out successful programs in Columbus, Ohio, and Louisville, Ky., for dealing with homelessness and public housing, respectively.

Cisneros said the book launch would take place in New York, Boston and Chicago because those three cities, under strong mayoral leadership, employ strategies that address all the challenges.

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