The association announced its commitment at the White House Conference on Increasing Minority Homeownership at George Washington University, where President George W. Bush unveiled his "Blueprint for the American Dream" and outlined the ways the housing industry will partner with the administration to achieve this goal.

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Mel Martinez said the "Blueprint for the American Dream" is an "unprecedented public/private partnership ... that will harness the resources of the affordable housing industry to meet the president's goals."

"We applaud President Bush for his tremendous commitment to increasing minority homeownership and welcome the opportunity to partner with the White House on this initiative. Realtors are the first stop for consumers' housing needs and are therefore in a unique position to be ideal advocates for all homebuyers," said PeggyAnn McConnochie, a Realtor from Juneau, Alaska, who serves as chair of the National Association of Realtors' Housing Opportunity Program. "We believe that Realtors can be the catalyst for change by making a commitment to address the issues surrounding minority homeownership and by building support and cooperation among state and local governments, businesses, charitable organizations, lenders and homebuilders."

"Realtors are continually engaged in actions that address the barriers to minority homeownership. Homeownership education is integral to what Realtors do every day with all of our clients. The members of the association as individuals and as an organization embrace our responsibility to do whatever it takes to increase the ranks of minority homeowners throughout the U.S.," she said.

As part of the White House minority homeownership initiative, the National Association of Realtors and its members have made several pledges.

The National Association of Realtors will continue to be a sponsoring partner of the 2003 Home Ownership Participation for Everyone (HOPE) Awards, which were created to recognize contributions by individuals and organizations to promote minority homeownership.

As part of the association's new Housing Opportunity Program, a new, central, web-based clearinghouse of national affordable housing programs and mortgage products will be launched in mid-November at www.realtor.org. The website will provide Realtors and the public with the tools and resources to promote housing opportunity initiatives in their communities. The Housing Opportunity program is designed to empower and encourage the nation's 800,000 Realtors to become aggressive advocates for successful, credible and viable housing opportunity programs in their own communities.

In addition, the association will encourage efforts to address the affordability factor through local Realtor associations. According to Silicon Valley Association of Realtors President Alicia Tuvell, a Realtor with Coldwell Banker in Los Altos, the local association is already discussing the affordability issue and making plans to launch community programs to address the problem.

Information provided in this column is presented by the Realtor members of the Silicon Valley Association of Realtors at www.silvar.org. Send questions on any topic to jnewton@jnpr.com.