The Bush Administration has thrown its support behind a tax credit for builders that would bridge the gap between what it costs to build houses in lower-income neighborhoods and the price buyers in those neighborhoods could afford to pay.

Modeled after the highly successful Low Income Housing Tax Credit, the vehicle by which most affordable rental properties are developed, the so-called Home Ownership Tax Credit would provide developers and investors with a tax credit of up to 50 percent of the cost of constructing a new house or rehabilitating an existing property in distressed areas.

"The President has set a goal of increasing the supply of affordable housing by 7 million units over the next 10 years, and the tax credit would move us significantly closer to reaching that goal," Sec. Alphonso Jackson of the Department of Housing and Urban Development said at the National Association of Home Builders' annual convention this weekend.

The credit is a long-time pet legislative goal of the influential NAHB. It is estimated that it would lead directly to the construction of as many as 50,000 more houses annually.

The concept almost made it through Congress last year. It had bipartisan support, but a consensus could not be reached before lawmakers adjourned for the November election.

Sec. Jackson told the NAHB board of directors that the President intends to work both sides of the aisle this year to enact the proposal, which was incorporated into the Republican platform and mentioned by Mr. Bush in his acceptance speech at his party's convention.

Sec. Jackson's talk at the builders' conclave, which drew more than 100,000 to the Orlando Convention Center, marked the beginning of HUD's 40th anniversary year. The agency was born in September 1964.

As the agency enters its milestone year -- and the administration begins its second term -- Sec. Jackson told the NAHB leadership that he is "energized by the opportunities ahead."

In another major development at the meeting over the weekend, Countrywide Home Loans announced an expansion of its "We House America" initiative to fund mortgages to minorities and lower-income borrowers.

When the program was first announced in 1992, it had a modest goal of $1.25 billion in loans to the underserved, who, in some cases, trail white Americans in home ownership by more than 25 percentage points.

Over the next decade, higher goals were set and achieved. And most recently, in 2003, the target was raised to $600 billion in mortgages by 2010.

Now, Countrywide, one of the nation's largest lenders, says it will fund a total of $1 trillion by the end of the decade.

"We've already enabled 2.4 million low-income and minority families to secure homes," said Chairman Angelo Mozilo, who flew across the country from California to speak with the nation's housing press. "Our ultimate goal with this new challenge is to triple that number."

Mozilo admitted that the objective is ambitious, but he said "there is no room for reticence or timidity."

Published: January 17, 2005

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When Lew Sichelman first started writing about housing in 1969, he was the youngest real estate writer in the country. Now, 37 years later, he's one of the oldest -- and most decorated. He has been rated the top housing columnist in the country by the National Association of Realtors as well as by his peers in the National Association of Real Estate Editors. Indeed, NAREE has recognized his work on numerous occasions. One year - due to his advancing age, he can't recall which one - he earned top honors in the annual NAREE Journalism Contest in three out of the four major writing categories. It was the first time one writer has won so many NAREE awards in a single year. Known for his ability to make even the most difficult topics understandable, Sichelman also has been honored by the National Association of Home Builders and the Mortgage Bankers Association. He began providing in-depth coverage of and consumer-oriented information about housing and housing finance at the Washington Daily News, where he was real estate editor. He held that same position for nine more years at the Washington Star, which purchased the News in 1972. The Star, a so-called "writer's newspaper" which also had the misfortune of being an evening paper, was put out of its misery in 1981, and Sichelman, who had begun self-syndicating his column in 1978, decided to become a full-time columnist. Today, his column, "The Housing Scene," is distributed by United Media to newspapers throughout the country. He also is on the staff of National Mortgage News, an independent newspaper which is considered the bible of the mortgage business. And he writes for numerous other publications, including MarketWatch.com, where he answers readers questions once a week, Sports Illustrated (don't ask), RealtyTimes.com, BigBuilder and others. Sichelman is married, the father of five and grandfather of eleven.