HUD event aimed at minorities

A midday visit by Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso S. Jackson will highlight the Las Vegas Homeownership Expo Saturday, June 19, at the Cashman Center, 850 N. Las Vegas Blvd.

The exposition, which is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., will feature 100 exhibitors whose shared goal is to increase homeownership among low-income and minority families.

The event is part of June's observance of National Homeownership Month.

Exhibitors and seminars are geared toward first-time home buyers.

Participants include housing counseling agencies, local government departments with homeownership programs, mortgage brokers and real estate agents.

A series of six seminars in English and Spanish presented throughout the day will provide information and question-and-answer sessions on a range of issues. The topics are:

"Growing your money," "Repair your credit," "10 Steps to homeownership," "Your credit score and you," "Energy conservation," and "Getting ready to buy."

Children's activities include an art contest, a Las Vegas Fire Department interactive event, face painting and entertainment.

Among the giveaways are lunches for the first 1,500 attendees, a raffle for a large-screen television, and 1,000 $20 phone cards.

Jackson, who was sworn in as secretary on April 1, will address attendees at 12:45 p.m.

"Boosting the number of homeowners, and minority homeowners in particular, is one of the president's domestic priorities, and a personal priority of mine," Jackson said.

Earlier this month, Jackson announced the beginning of the American Dream Downpayment Initiative, which provides more than $161 million to communities nationwide to help first-time home buyers meet their down payment costs.

Under the program, candidates with incomes 80 percent of median or less can qualify for as much as $10,000 or 6 percent of the purchase price of a home.

Clark County received more than $777,000 under the grant, which will be administered by the county.

The Census Bureau reports that, for the first time in our nation's history, more than half of minority families own their homes. The minority homeownership rate, however, still falls short of the national rate of nearly 70 percent.

In June 2002, the Bush administration issued The Homeownership Challenge to close the "homeownership gap" by adding 5.5 million minority homeowners within 10 years.

More than two dozen organizations are working to amass more than $1 trillion in mortgage financing to meet that goal. Since the initiative was announced, an estimated 1.5 million minorities have become homeowners.

Sponsors for the event include Wells Fargo Home Mortgage and Nevada State Bank, among others.

Further information is available by calling the Las Vegas Housing and Urban Development Field Office at 702-388-6513.

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