PREPARED REMARKS FOR
STEVE PRESTON
SECRETARY OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT
AT THE
NATIONAL HOUSING SUMMIT
WASHINGTON, D.C.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2008
Thank you, Anoop (Prakash). Good morning. Thank you all for coming. Welcome.
We meet at an extraordinary point in our nation’s economic history. The need for our partnership and collaboration has never been greater, and the quality of that partnership will mean the difference for millions of Americans.
The past two years have seen mounting challenges in the housing market. Those challenges have become more difficult with the passage of time.
This summer, home prices dropped to the lowest levels in years. Foreclosures continued to increase, as housing starts and home sales continued to decline.
And communities suffered as more houses began to stand empty. There was much reason for concern. It was a summer of discontent in the housing market.
But, discontent turned to upheaval. September and the first days of October have been a white-knuckle time for all of us. There has been a succession of shock waves forcing the President, Treasury, the Fed, HUD, FDIC, and Congress to undertake unprecedented actions to try to stem the turbulence in our market. The problems have been monumental, almost beyond belief, vast, foreboding, with global implications.
We saw the need to save Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; AIG, Wachovia and WaMu. There was the collapse of Lehman Brothers, virtually unthinkable a few months ago. These are enormous corporations with global reach and impact. And their problems rippled out far beyond our borders.
In this new financial landscape, each day we were called upon to craft targeted, on-point solutions on a sweeping scale.
Then, just two weeks ago, the need for rapid intervention startled, overwhelmed, the nation. Thankfully, the President signed the emergency legislation on Friday after tense and intense negotiations with the Congress.
And at the same time in my own Agency, we took important positive steps forward, such as the rollout of our Hope for Homeowners refinance program to help struggling homeowners and the allocation of significant federal funding for communities to purchase and rehabilitate foreclosed properties.
Each of these actions has been important. Housing is central to our economy, and economic confidence is critical to the availability of credit.
And we haven’t had time to wait. The market needs solutions, support, and liquidity. There is a dire need for stability.
One year ago, six months ago, even three months ago, a similar gathering would have confronted a much different world. The economic landscape is changing right before our eyes, evolving rapidly as some industry leaders find themselves in a new relationship with the federal government, others now a part of new companies, and some have just disappeared.
Yes, there are challenges…and opportunities … ahead. And we have much to discuss, much to absorb. There are some who already talk about new economic architecture on that landscape. They are right.
There are new structures in place, a new financial landscape that did not exist a few months ago. We find ourselves in a land we thought we knew, using common language, relying on our previous experiences and traditions, only to discover that there is much to learn and a pressing need for invention.
The toolbox has grown and there are more tools to address the housing crisis. We need to figure out how best to use these tools to help people in need. And we must do this together. We need your leadership and creativity. We must maximize the power of partnership. And we need to do that right now…today!
One of the benefits of this summit is that we can exchange information and educate each other.
There are best practices to garner from state and local governments across America. As a part of this metamorphosis, we need to create powerful and lasting partnerships.
The federal government cannot do it alone, nor should it. In my view, some of those partnerships will be created in this room today and tomorrow.
Even with recent legislation and new tools to help homeowners, this crisis is not over. We may face further challenges in waves. We will see delinquencies from Alt-A and Option ARMs resetting into 2010.
We need to support credit for new home buyers, in order to work through deep inventories. And we need to understand the need for affordable housing during this period of disruption. Now is the time to get ahead of these and other upcoming challenges.
We have already come a long way. There have been major steps forward. Let me mention some architectural changes that enable us to better respond to the needs of homeowners in your communities across the country. You need to understand them to better help homeowners in your communities.
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