The second in a series of "Rallies for Homeownership," backed primarily by the National Association of Home Builders and aimed at sending a message to elected leaders and candidates that housing is important, was held in Tampa, Fla., on Wednesday.
Under a big white tent in Joe Chillura Courthouse Square, the NAHB, with several co-sponsors, collected signatures on petitions calling for politicians to solve the foreclosure crisis, guarantee creditworthy homebuyers and small business the opportunity to obtain loans and protect the mortgage interest deduction.
NAHB chairman Barry Rutenberg, a homebuilder from Gainesville, Fla., said the downtown Tampa event was more than just for show. "We hope this is very meaningful," he told National Mortgage News. "We are putting a lot of effort into it."
The signatures collected here had not been counted by press time. But at the initial rally in Columbia, S.C., just before that state's primary in January, nearly 2,000 people put their names to the petition which points out, in part, that "homeownership is the foundation of our economy."
Similar rallies will be held this week in Detroit, followed by Kansas City, Mo., in late September, and Milwaukee, Columbus, Ohio, Richmond, Va., and Las Vegas in October. All the cities are located in what are considered strategic swing states in the November elections.
Joining Rutenberg here were various local officials and state legislators, including Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn, who came to Florida as director of government affairs for the Tampa Association of Home Builders.
Buckhorn told the crowd of about 200 that homeownership "makes a difference, it changes lives, it gives you a sense of who you are." He said getting housing back on track is not just about money. Vacant houses and foreclosures "are like a cancer," he told the rally. "It spreads from house to house, street to street and neighborhood to neighborhood."
Ken Hagen, chair of the Hillsborough County Commissioners Board, said local leaders "must tell Washington to protect the American dream." Hagen said "we have been too quiet for too long, so today we are turning up the volume and demanding that Washington fix the housing crisis."
In an interview, Rutenberg said that he would be pleased if just 500 signatures were collected in Tampa. What matters most, he said, is "the cumulative" impact.
The Florida builder said one of the keys to getting housing moving again is loosening underwriting rules that have become much too restrictive. "My clients can pay cash for a home but they can't get a mortgage," he said. "There's something fundamentally wrong with that. Credit standards are too stringent and getting more so. Our goal is to bring the rules back toward the middle."
Literature handed out by local volunteers cited Bureau of Labor Statistics' figures showing that more than 1.4 million jobs in home construction and remodeling have been lost since the sector peaked at 3.45 million in April 2007. To date, less than 2% of those jobs have been restored, according to the BLS.
The pamphlet also noted that new home and remodeling sector account for about 15% of the national economy. Building 100 typical single-family houses generates 305 jobs, $23.1 million in wage and business income, and $8.9 million in taxes and revenue for local, state and federal government. However, it cited no source for those figures.
The National Council of La Raza, Center for Responsible Lending and local Realtors groups helped sponsor the rally. The petition is on line at www.protecthomeownership.com.
