Property ManagementFormer HUD Chief Praises HOPE AWARDS Recipients
Former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Jack Kemp extolled the
economic and social benefits of homeownership and praised the HOPE partnership
for its efforts to improve minority homeownership during his keynote address at
the HOPE (Home Ownership Participation for Everyone) Awards Luncheon Wednesday
at the National Press Club.
Kemp spoke at length about owning your own home changes your
perspective. “You don’t need to tell people to improve that which they own.
As soon as they own something, improvement begins to take place, not only in
the physical asset of a piece of property and the home, but also in the mental
attitude of the family that gets the ownership.”
“The definition of a palace is not that which is measured in acres. It’s
measured by what you own... You are in the business of bringing mansions to low
and middle income and any income American. You are the most important business
in this country, in my view, of making the American dream a reality. Thanks to
all the HOPE Award recipients because you are making it happen. By celebrating
your success, we are celebrating the success of our country,” Kemp said.
NAR President Richard Mendenhall opened the luncheon by acknowledging that
the seven HOPE Award winners have helped over 150,000 minorities become
homeowners. He concluded the program by setting a goal that homeownership
ought to look like America. “Regardless of skin color, we should parity in
homeownership. We can make a difference in people’s lives that way,”
Mendenhall said.
Immediately following the luncheon, each winner discussed their work and
shared their common experiences with the HOPE Award partners and housing policy
leaders at a symposium moderated by Kenneth Harney, nationally syndicated real
estate columnist for the Washington Post. Six organizations and one individual
were recognized with the first HOPE Awards for their innovative work to promote
minority homeownership. Each winner received a $10,000 honorarium and a
statuette at the HOPE Awards Gala Dinner Wednesday evening at the National
Building Museum in Washington.
HOPE Award categories include homeownership education, real estate
brokerage, finance, project of the year, public policy, leadership and
leadership. Winners were selected from nearly 200 nominations on the basis of
impact, innovation, minority focus, and contributions to affordable housing and
minority acceptance by a panel of expert judges including Henry Cisneros,
former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; Congressman John L. Lewis
(D-Ga); Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-Calif); Nicolas P. Retsinas, director of
the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University; and F. Barton
Harvey III, Chairman and CEO of the Enterprise Foundation. The 2001 HOPE Award
winners are:
BROKERAGE CATEGORY
California Capital Companies, Ontario, CA. Alfonso, Alex and Jimmy Espinoza
formed the California Capital Companies to meet the needs of first-time
Hispanic homebuyers. The company’s efforts have resulted in more than 10,000
families achieving their dreams. Tactics have included a Spanish language
radio show on KNSE, and "customer for life" program to educate consumers, and a
kiosk program that brings real estate services directly to the Latino community
through kiosks in grocery stores.
EDUCATION CATEGORY
Home Loan Counseling Center-Sacramento, Sacramento, CA. SHLCC was formed to
provide homeownership counseling that is "...essential if we are to close the
gap in homeownership rates across race and economic boundaries." The Center
offers a series of workshops reaching pre- and post-purchase families in
English, Spanish and, soon, in Russian. By partnering with different
organizations throughout the community, SHLCC is able to recruit volunteers
from the real estate industry and reach prospective minority homeowners through
area employers, churches and community groups. SHLCC also uses radio and print
ads, and multi-language marketing materials. Since its inception in 1991,
SHLCC has reached more than 50,000 individuals
FINANCE CATEGORY
Self Help Credit Union, Durham, NC. Self Help"s mission is to expand home
ownership among people traditionally underserved by the banking system,
especially minorities and low-income households. The Self-Help Community
Advantage Home Loan Secondary Market Program, a partnership with the Ford
Foundation, Fannie Mae and HUD, has helped to expand minority homeownership
nationwide. Self Help outreach includes loan officer presentations to
African-American church congregations. Self Help also works in the Latino
community, and has over 25 employees with Spanish language training. Since its
inception, it has helped 7,000 minority families through innovative financing
and education programs in its six North Carolina offices
BUILDER CATEGORY
Northeast Florida Builders Association, Jacksonville, FL. This 1600 member
association responded to the minority housing needs of Jacksonville by forming
a partnership with Habijax, the local Habitat affiliate. It helped to organize
10,000 volunteers and 24 homebuilders to build 101 homes in 17 days. The small
city serves low income and primarily minority homeowners. Such national
leaders as former President Jimmy Carter, former HUD Secretary Jack Kemp and
Habitat founder Millard Fuller participated in the build.
PUBLIC POLICY CATEGORY
Greater Baltimore Board of REALTORSð, Lutherville, MD. In the late fall of
1998, GBBR became aware of widespread fraudulent real estate practices
occurring in Baltimore City that were targeted towards African-American women.
GBBR identified these as serious barriers to legitimate homeownership because
they essentially guaranteed that the targeted minority buyers would be forced
into foreclosure. GBBR launched a comprehensive $300,000 education campaign
consisting of radio and television spots, and billboards and transit ads. It
also includes homebuyer seminars in minority neighborhoods.
LEADERSHIP CATEGORY
Vincent Quayle, St. Ambrose Center, Baltimore, MD. Vincent Quayle, a former
Jesuit priest, formed St. Ambrose Center 33 years ago to combat the "block
busting" that was destroying home ownership in Baltimore"s racially changing
neighborhoods. St. Ambrose offers four different counseling programs and three
housing development programs. Since 1970, St. Ambrose has guided over 6,000
families, primarily African Americans, through the home buying process. His
greatest achievement has been to help change the attitudes of Baltimore"s local
lending community towards African-American buyers and the neighborhoods into
which they were buying.
MEDIA CATEGORY
ARK Communication, Millbrae, CA. ARK Communication formed Bayhouseinfo.com
to serve the needs of the Bay Area"s Chinese American population with a real
estate web site in both Chinese and English. It was the first and probably
still the only Chinese-English real estate web site. In addition to listings,
the site contains information on neighborhoods, schools and businesses. Some
100 real estate brokers list their properties on the site
The HOPE Awards were developed to recognize outstanding contributions by
individuals and organizations to promote homeownership by minorities. The
awards are sponsored by a partnership of six real estate associations: the
California Association of Real Estate Brokers, the Chinese American Real Estate
Professionals Association of Southern California, the Chinese Real Estate
Association of America, the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate
Professionals, the National Association of Real Estate Brokers and the National
Association of Realtorsð. Co-sponsoring organizations are Fannie Mae, Freddie
Mac, the National Association of Home Builders, the National Council of La
Raza, Habitat for Humanity International, REALTOR.com, Century-21, Coldwell
Banker, and ERA Real Estate.