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HUD SECRETARY JACKSON ANNOUNCES MORE THAN $11.7 MILLION IN DOWNPAYMENT ASSISTANCE FOR FIRST-TIME HOMEBUYERS IN TEXAS
American Dream Downpayment Act to Provide Up to $10,000 to Eligible Individuals and Families

FORT WORTH - Hundreds of low-income families living in Texas communities can now realize the dream of homeownership because of $11,734,341 million in American Dream Downpayment Initiative (ADDI) funding announced today by Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson. (See chart below.)

Jackson said, "During the Bush Administration, a record number of new homeowners, specifically minority families, have achieved a home of their own. I encourage Congress to fully support the President's request to continue this important new homeownership tool so even more Texas families can realize their American Dream."

The American Dream Downpayment Act will be administered under HUD's HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME). Since its inception, the HOME Program has assisted more than 300,000 families to become homeowners, 55 percent of which are minorities. Information about The American Dream Downpayment Initiative is available on the Internet.

June is National Homeownership month - a month-long educational outreach effort designed to provide important homebuying information and financial tools, particularly to minority families. The Census reports that, for the first time in our nation's history, more than half of minority families own their own home. But minority homeownership rates still fall well short of the national homeownership rate of nearly 70 percent. In June 2002, President Bush issued The Homeownership Challenge to close this 'homeownership gap' by adding 5.5 million minority homeowners by the end of the decade. Since then, more than two dozen organizations are working to create more than $1 trillion in mortgage financing for minority homebuyers.

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