To help determine where the presidential candidates stand on a broad range of housing issues, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) recently submitted a series of identical questions on housing-related issues to Texas Governor George W. Bush and Vice President Al Gore. Exclusive to NAHB, their answers were initially published in Nation's Building News, the official newspaper of the 200,000 member trade association. As a public service, NAHB, which is also known as the voice of America's housing industry, is now making this information available to the Realty Times and other news organizations. Here is part one of four installments, which will follow on subsequent days.

Question: Housing has played a major role in the current economic expansion. However, the Fed has been stepping on the monetary brakes in an effort to cool down the economy. Our concern is that the Fed might brake the economy too much and the housing industry will bear the brunt of the pain. What would you propose to alleviate the effects of rising interest rates on housing construction and home buyers?

BUSH: I am glad the Federal Reserve has stopped raising benchmark interest rates. I am confident that my balanced economic plan - saving Social Security, rewarding work through tax relief, improving education, modernizing Medicare with a prescription drug benefit, expanding access to affordable health care, boosting savings and wealth, etc. - will inspire market confidence and keep interest rates low so more working families can achieve the dream of homeownership.

In the spirit of Lincoln and the Homestead Act, I have proposed specifically an aggressive housing plan - the New Prosperity Initiative - to expand homeownership so that more Americans can buy their first home. The New Prosperity Initiative will boost homeownership, savings and wealth among low-income Americans caught between poverty and prosperity. Part of the American Dream is being able to own your own home, and being able to say "this place is mine." Looking at today's construction boom, it's easy to forget that so many Americans are still waiting for this experience. While the homeownership rate among whites is 73%, it is only 47% among African-Americans and Hispanics - and this is not good enough.

GORE: Over the past eight years, the American economy has prospered and the housing industry has been a major component of that success. Al Gore believes that for America to continue its current economic expansion, we must maintain the same policies that have led to a strong housing market and the highest rates of homeownership in our history.

Gore believes that the federal government must strengthen its commitment to fiscal discipline by paying down our national debt. This action will continue to have a deflating effect on interest rates, which would lead to a strong environment for home builders and home buyers. He would reaffirm our commitment to federal housing programs like FHA, and would adopt policies that make the cost of buying a home more affordable. He would create additional incentives available to first-time home buyers, such as allowing the withdrawal of funds from new tax-free Retire Retirement Savings Plus (RSP) accounts. These and other policies will help us to achieve Al Gore's and Joe Lieberman's ambitious goal of raising homeownership rates to 70% for the first time in history.

Question: Federal tax incentives have helped create the highest homeownership rates on record. However, some in Congress and elsewhere have suggested restructuring the tax code and eliminating the deductibility of home mortgage interest and property taxes. Where do you stand on this issue?

BUSH: I strongly oppose eliminating the deductibility of home mortgage interest and property taxes. Homeownership has always been at the heart of the American Dream, and central to the health of the U.S. economy and the wealth of families. It also yields a variety of strong social benefits. I support tax incentives that enable more Americans to achieve the goal of homeownership, which strengthens not just families but whole communities, for this generation and for generations to come.

GORE: Al Gore recognizes that Americans have reason to be proud of their having achieved record rates of homeownership. Nevertheless, Al Gore and Joe Lieberman have proposed an even more ambitious goal for the years to come: the goal of achieving a 70% rate of homeownership. They strongly support the preservation of the mortgage interest deduction as the cornerstone of America's housing policy. Over the past eight years, Al Gore has backed the Administration's support for the maintenance of key federal income-tax incentives for homeownership and affordable housing, including the mortgage interest deduction. As President, he will fight to maintain the current home mortgage interest deduction as well as state and local property tax deductions.

Question: Despite today's economic prosperity, millions of low-income and working Americans still live in substandard housing or pay too much of their incomes for housing. Does the federal government have a responsibility to help these families obtain decent housing? If so, what types of assistance should be provided to low-income renter households?

BUSH: The country's overall homeownership rate is high, but many families who dream of buying a first home still face tough affordability challenges. Given the economic and social benefits that homeownership brings, we need a national commitment to expanding homeownership even more - by lowering taxes, redeveloping inner cities, streamlining paperwork requirements, reducing burdensome regulations and championing other innovative pro-ownership incentives.

My New Prosperity Initiative reflects my goal to help low-income individuals actually move beyond their needs, not merely cope with them. Right now the government offers help to low-income families, but mainly in the rental market. Through the Sec. 8 program, the federal government makes up the difference between fair-market rents and what a given family is able to pay. This is a good aim, but we should extend it further.

Rather than subsidizing monthly rent payments, I have proposed a plan, where low-income families can use up to a year's worth of rental payments to make a downpayment on their own house. And for five years after that, as they pay their mortgage and build equity, they can still receive housing support, just as they would if they were still renting. With this proposal, people are not only gaining property, but independence and the sense of belonging that ownership brings.For the millions of low-income families not already enrolled in the government's Sec. 8 program, I have proposed the American Dream Down Payment Fund. Specifically, this program will help low-income families who are qualified to buy a house, but come up short on the downpayment. If they and the bank can come up with 25% of the downpayment, the government will match the rest, up to $1,500. This simple reform could help more than 650,000 families in five years purchase homes.

Finally, to further expand affordable housing opportunities, I will establish the Renewing the Dream Investor-Based Tax Credit. This tax credit will provide new incentives for private investors to redevelop single-family housing or build new homes for low- and moderate-income Americans. Specifically the program will provide $1.7 billion during a five-year period - enough to rehabilitate or build 100,000 homes.

GORE: Al Gore believes that the federal government can and should play an important role in ensuring the availability of quality housing to low-income families. Al Gore has long been a defender of the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC), which provides tax incentives that will reduce the risk to investors by funding the equity required for the construction or rehabilitation of low- and very-low-income housing.

To provide assistance to low-income renters and home owners, Al Gore supports the Administration's proposal to expand the number of housing vouchers available to America's hard-pressed working families, as well as initiatives such as the Home Investment Partnership Program (HOME), which funds a wide range of activities that build, buy and/or rehabilitate affordable housing for rent or homeownership. The program's flexibility allows states and local governments to use HOME funds for grants, direct loans, loan guarantees or other forms of credit enhancement, rental assistance or security deposits. Al Gore also recognizes that the Mortgage Revenue Bond Program - which allows first-time home buyers to achieve financing with tax-exempt interest - has succeeded in making many Americans new home owners, and is a program that must be protected.

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