Recognizing National Homeownership Month and the importance of homeownership in the United States.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, the month of June is recognized as National Homeownership Month. On June 3, 2009, I introduced this bipartisan resolution with 12 of my colleagues, including the ranking member, and I would like to thank Maxine Waters. As I recall, you have been here every time on the floor speaking with me. You are an ardent supporter of housing. You understand the benefit of that to communities and how it really helps people who need homes.

We are in a tough time, but we need to acknowledge the importance of homeownership in building strong communities and families. Owning a home is a fundamental part of the American Dream and is the largest personal investment most families will ever make.

For millions of American families, homeownership provides an entry into the middle class, and is a key to building wealth. Moreover, in addition to providing financial benefits to individuals, homeownership also helps strengthen communities. Homeowners have a greater stake in the success of their local schools, civic organizations and churches.

We have recently experienced significant upheaval in the U.S. housing market which has affected the entire economy. My home State of California in particular has been heavily impacted by the mortgage crisis, with thousands of families losing their homes. Despite all of this occurring in the current housing market, we need to remember that homeownership has historically been the single largest creator of wealth for most Americans.

As someone who has been involved in the housing industry for more than 35 years, I have seen my fair share of housing downturns. From these experiences, I have learned that at a time of stress, it is important to ensure that liquidity continues to flow to the housing market in order to keep the markets functioning.

The loan limit increases for FHA and GSEs included in enacted law are finally providing affordable, safe mortgages for homeowners who were previously forced to resort to risky loans that impaired their ability to keep their home.

Additionally, I have also cosponsored the Homebuyer Tax Credit Act, which was introduced by my fellow Southern Californian, Ken Calvert, to bring stability to the housing market and encourage responsible homeownership. Congressman Ken Calvert's bill would expand the homebuyer tax credit provisions included in the enacted stimulus bills. During these economically challenging times, it is more important than ever to provide tax relief to hardworking families.

In the first quarter of 2009, the homeownership rate was 67.3 percent. It has become more difficult for many people to retain homeownership today. Many families are trying very hard just to be able to make their house payment each and every month.

In the past we have seen downturns in the seventies, eighties and nineties. This is probably the most significant one I have ever seen. At this point in time we need to acknowledge that supporting homeownership is a worthy goal of this Congress, and I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this resolution by voting ``yes.''

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Well, you have worked very closely with me over the years on dealing with conforming loan limits in high- cost areas for Freddie and Fannie, and in California we almost felt like stepchildren for years. The limits were so low that people in California could not be able to use them to buy a home, and they were forced into riskier loans that many times you and I fought hard to change.

We have raised the GSEs and the FHA loan limit in California and are helping a tremendous amount of people refinance their homes, or people who need to sell a home and people buying a home be able to get into the marketplace at probably at least 100 basis points cheaper than they would be able to get into a jumbo loan.

I don't know if it is over, Maxine. I really wish I could say it was. I remember back in the early eighties when the prime went to 21.5 percent. You remember that. As a developer, I was paying a 24.5 percent interest rate for construction projects I had, and if anybody could even get a loan for 12 percent, they would buy a house at that point in time. But you couldn't get it.

I hope we are doing what is right, providing liquidity in the marketplace to encourage people to take advantage of the deals that are out there today. But you see more and more lenders having to foreclose on homes, and they are putting them on the marketplace. In fact, I have a bill right now that Chairman Frank is going to be bringing up before the committee that allows banks, instead of forcing those homes on the marketplace, they can lease those homes for up to 5 years, and that way you get a lot of these distress sales off the marketplace.

Hopefully we can find a reasonable bottom at that point in time and the market will start to come back. But you have such a glut of foreclosed properties on the market today that it keeps driving values down further and further, and that makes it more difficult for people to be able to stay in their home, because many times they owe more than it is worth.

So hopefully we can get together, and we have done many of these things in a bipartisan fashion, and create a structure that will create a bottom and get us out of this. I am looking forward to that.

But I am really thankful to you for your help and your cooperation and your support for the housing market. You have a passion for that, as I do, and I know Spencer Bachus does and Chairman Frank does also, and hopefully working together in a bipartisan fashion we can find a bottom and move the American people in a positive fashion forward.

I have no further speakers, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 502) recognizing National Homeownership Month and the importance of homeownership in the United States.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks on this legislation and to insert extraneous material thereon.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may consume.

I am proud to be a cosponsor of this legislation which recognizes June as National Homeownership Month. As Chair of the Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity, I am indeed committed to good public policy that will assist citizens to realize the American dream of homeownership. I would like to thank Representative Gary Miller for his continued leadership on ensuring that this resolution comes to the floor every year. This is the seventh time that he has introduced this resolution, and I appreciate his commitment to America's homeowners. Preserving homeownership is more important today than ever before, with foreclosures reaching record levels and millions more Americans struggling to stay in their homes. Homeownership has historically been the single most important wealth-building tool available to families in this country. However, homeownership, as we know it, is at risk. The foreclosure crisis has all but erased the gains we have made in increasing homeownership rates, especially for minorities; and the gains those families thought they had achieved through increases in home equity have also diminished as now 20 percent of homeowners owe more on their homes than they are worth.

The combination of unemployment, unsustainable and predatory mortgages, and uncooperative mortgage servicers has created a perfect storm of record rates, of loan defaults and foreclosures. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, a record 12 percent of mortgages are either in default or in foreclosure. According to the Center For Responsible Lending, 6,500 foreclosures occur each day in the United States. By the end of 2009, there will be 2.4 million families in foreclosure. We must keep families in their homes, and this Congress and the administration have developed programs to do just that. For example, the Making Home Affordable program, announced by President Barack Obama in March, builds on legislation I introduced at the beginning of this Congress to end this unending avalanche of foreclosures.

Despite the commitment from the administration and Congress to reduce foreclosures, mortgage servicers have been reluctant to modify troubled loans. In fact, NeighborWorks recently found in its survey of housing counseling agencies that servicers are generally uncooperative. They take up to 60 days to respond to requests and frequently lose important documents. In order to be true to the spirit of National Homeownership Month, I call on all mortgage servicers to fully participate in the Making Home Affordable program and to work with families to maintain their ownership.

Vulnerable homeowners are also threatened by scam artists who offer to

rescue or help struggling homeowners stay in their homes for an exorbitant fee that must be paid up front. They often deliver either nothing or a higher payment than the homeowner was paying before contacting these companies. The Federal Trade Commission has begun to crack down on these scammers, and I support these efforts.

Prospective homeowners are also caught up in this economic crisis. Because they have no other home to sell, first-time homebuyers have the ability to help stabilize housing prices and neighborhoods. Housing experts are saying that now is the time to buy, but many first-time homebuyers are finding themselves locked out of the housing market. Many families who would otherwise be buying homes now lack the required down payment. Fortunately, the recently enacted $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers is now being monetized so that these homeowners can use it to pay closing costs or to assist with their down payment.

America's homeowners face many challenges this month and will face many more this year. This resolution demonstrates this Congress' commitment to assisting them and first-time homebuyers in achieving the American dream of homeownership.

I urge all of my colleagues to support this important resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to request of my colleague that we join in a little colloquy prior to going to our closing.

Representative Miller, I know that you have been involved with real estate and housing and development and you understand a lot about the housing markets. And while we have identified that there certainly are problems we have been going through, a crisis with foreclosures and a kind of a meltdown, I am extremely hopeful that we are going to be able to stabilize this housing market and that we can continue to encourage our families to seek homeownership opportunities.

I think we see some indications of the banks getting stronger and being able to pay back money that the United States citizens have invested in the banks in order to stabilize this housing market. But I would like to have your opinion: Based on your expertise and your involvement for so many years, do you think that we are beginning to have a turnaround?

Thank you very much. I do appreciate your comments, and I value them because of your experience.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, it often takes loss to remind ourselves of our unwavering appreciation and unfaltering gratitude for those few extraordinary people who, despite their ability to enjoy tremendous success and reward for themselves, instead commit their energies and talents to the betterment of the world.

Millard Fuller of Americus, Georgia, was one of those extraordinary few. He passed away February 2nd, leaving behind a wife and family, but, more importantly, a legacy that is all the evidence one needs to believe in the power of the human spirit to inspire hope and lift the burdens of poverty and despair from the shoulders of one's fellow man.

Throughout his life, Millard Fuller's talent and passion were put on display in no small number of ways. He grew to be a great entrepreneur, founding a marketing company that made him a millionaire before he was 30 years old. He was a great lawyer and headed the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Alabama. He was a great Christian, one who walked away from his hard-earned wealth to pursue a life of service and philanthropy through the founding of the tremendously successful Habitat for Humanity.

Millard led the organization for more than three decades, and through the application of what he called the ``economics of Jesus,'' helped to provide over 300,000 homes to the destitute and downtrodden across the globe.

However, more than any of these things, Millard was a great man. His selflessness serves as an inspiration to people throughout the Nation and all across the world.

Born to a grocer in Lanett, Alabama, Millard refused to allow his modest beginnings to define the course of his life. Although he attained great fortune from his tireless efforts as a businessman, he soon found that in order to live a life of fulfillment, he had to dedicate himself to a simple life of devotion and service to a higher purpose.

He traveled to Africa in order to observe what he could do to improve the lot of the impoverished. He became a staunch advocate for aid to Africa's poor and traveled the United States for assistance in his efforts for Africa.

After moving to Americus, Georgia, which is located in the Second Congressional District of Georgia, which I'm proud to represent, Millard and his supporters founded what would become the most visible and effective manifestation of his desire to make a difference, an organization dedicated to providing housing and support for the poor, Habitat for Humanity.

For more than 30 years, Habitat for Humanity, with the help of countless volunteers, ranging from the average citizen to former President Jimmy Carter, built hundreds of thousands of homes for the world's disadvantaged. Its mission has reflected a simple philosophy best expressed in Millard's own words. He said, ``We want to make it socially, morally, politically and religiously unacceptable to have substandard housing and homelessness.''

In 1996, President Bill Clinton recognized Millard's dedication by awarding him The Presidential Medal of Freedom.

In 2005, Millard also founded the Fuller Center for Housing, a nonprofit housing ministry dedicated to eliminating poverty housing worldwide by providing the structure, guidance and support that communities need to build and repair homes for the impoverished among them.

It is my great honor to sponsor H. Res. 385, which celebrates the life of Millard Fuller and the impact that he had on so many. As this resolution is voted on today, let us seek to emulate Millard Fuller's passion for the good and the just and his selfless spirit of a better, gentler world.

I urge my colleagues to support this resolution to honor the life and the memory and the legacy of Millard Fuller.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 385) celebrating the life of Millard Fuller, a life which provides all of the evidence one needs to believe in the power of the human spirit to inspire hope and lift the burdens of poverty and despair from the shoulders of one's fellow man.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks on this legislation and to insert extraneous materials thereon.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening to recognize and celebrate the life of Mr. Millard Fuller, the founder and strength behind one of our Nation's most well-known and beloved nonprofit institutions.

Mr. Fuller led Habitat for Humanity from its founding in 1976 until 2005. He was an amazing man who was able to turn a simple idea into a global housing juggernaut serving over 100 countries. Through his leadership, Habitat for Humanity has created affordable homes for more than 300,000 families and 1 million people, families that otherwise would have remained in substandard housing.

So, Mr. Speaker, I think that it is appropriate for this body to pass this resolution for a gentleman who certainly is worthy of having this recognition.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 7 minutes to my colleague and friend, the gentleman from Georgia, Mr. Sanford Bishop.

Mr. Speaker, let me just agree with my colleague, who talked about the living out of beliefs.

I read a story in one the newspapers today which I thought was one of the most theologically unsound things I've seen or read recently. It compared the times President Obama and President Bush said the name ``Jesus,'' as if there is something that is magically going to happen as a result of calling the name. And I think we are going into a slippery slope when we begin to compare people by how they call the name of their deity.

But in the case of Millard Fuller, he acted out his beliefs. And we believe in, at least my religious tradition, that there can be no faith, measurable faith, unless there are works. And we say faith without works is dead. And so you see today on the political scene, a lot of talk about religion, but after all is said and done, there's almost always more said than done. And so we have reason to stand up and celebrate Mr. Fuller, who put his faith into action.

I never had the opportunity to work on more than two Habitat homes, and I really hate the fact that I've not been able to do more. But I appreciate the fact that former President Jimmy Carter has become one of the most ardent supporters of Habitat for Humanity and has actually worked on tens and tens of homes, not only in this country, but around the world.

And by the organization's 25th anniversary, tens of thousands of people like President Jimmy Carter were volunteering with Habitat, and more than a half million people were living in Habitat homes. I am proud to count myself among the numbers of Habitat volunteers, and I'm also proud that I have the opportunity to speak in favor of Millard Fuller, a prolific writer, authoring 10 books, and a man who put his faith in action.

Mr. Speaker, I yield the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I rise in support of House Resolution 502, celebrating the life of Millard Fuller, founder of Habitat for Humanity. Millard Fuller, along with his wife, Linda, founded Habitat for Humanity in 1976.

Habitat for Humanity operates as a nonprofit Christian housing ministry. Working together with local affiliates, Habitat provides safe, decent and affordable housing for people of all backgrounds. Since its founding, Habitat for Humanity has built more than 300,000 homes worldwide in 3,000 communities and provided housing for more than 1.5 million people.

Habitat for Humanity provides needy families with an opportunity for homeownership. The average cost of a Habitat home in the U.S. is $60,000. Habitat for Humanity sells homes at no profit to Habitat homeowners. In order to purchase a home, a Habitat homeowner

must invest hundreds of hours in sweat equity into building not only their Habitat house, but houses for others as well. A Habitat homeowner is also responsible for making a down payment and monthly mortgage payments.

Habitat for Humanity is able to finance its operations through mortgage payments made by Habitat homeowners, donations and volunteer labor. Habitat also accepts government funds, so long as they have no conditions that would violate Habitat principles.

In my State of California, Habitat for Humanity has worked tirelessly to provide housing for needy Californians. Thousands of people have a decent place to live because of the work of many volunteers and the generosity of thousands of donors.

Mr. Speaker, Habitat for Humanity is an organization that deserves to be honored. I urge my colleagues to join me and vote ``yes'' on this resolution.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, in closing, you have to admire an individual who applies Christian principles to his life. He didn't just talk good. He didn't just tell a story, he created good and he created a life for many people.

There's nothing like looking in the eyes of an individual or a family who is moving in a new home, especially when the family was involved in that home, building that home, and helping build homes for other people. You have to admire him for what he did, and all the individuals in this country and other countries who give of their time, their talent and their resources for the betterment of humanity.

And at this point in time, I would ask for an ``aye'' vote on a man who deserves it.

I yield back the balance of my time.