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Spreading the word about the need for a housing stimulus and the real-life effects of the current downswing
on local businesses and communities, NAHB conducted a series of media teleconferences across the country. The goal
of this broadscale media push was to bring the NAHB leadership and members together to convey the urgency of putting
housing at the center of the economic stimulus plan that Congress is now rushing to put together so that it will be ready
for enactment almost as soon as President Obama is sworn into office on Jan. 20. From the National Housing Center in
Washington, DC on Dec. 17, NAHB President & CEO Jerry Howard joined with Louisiana home builder Phil Hoffman of
Hoffman Custom Built Homes and Patrick Abercrombie of Lowe's Cabinet and Lighting Gallery in Tennessee. Together,
they stressed that the pain of the current downturn is not just being felt by big businesses, but is also constraining
economic activity on Main Street and in small town America. Echoing this message near and far, regional
teleconferences were also held in Ohio, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania on Dec. 17 and in Michigan, Nevada,
Massachusetts and Chicago on Dec. 18. In each of these events, home builders and their suppliers hammered home the
message that their businesses are a significant source of jobs and economic activity for their communities, and
that serious government action in the form of a housing stimulus is desperately needed and would likely be successful in
spurring new housing demand and stabilizing local economies. More complete coverage of the teleconferences are
featured in the Dec. 22 edition of NBN Online. Contact Paul Lopez (x8409) for additional info.
Sharing builders' AD&C concerns with FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair, NAHB's Senior Officers and staff had a
productive meeting with this key banking regulator on Dec. 17. NAHB expressed strong support for the FDIC plan to use
TARP funds in a new foreclosure mitigation program. At the same time, we expressed concerns that lenders are not
making sufficient efforts to work with builders on modifying terms of troubled outstanding AD&C loans as a means of
avoiding foreclosures or loan calls. Chairman Bair and her staff indicated that they would reiterate existing supervisory
guidance that encourages lenders to work with borrowers to avoid foreclosure. NAHB also relayed our members'
concerns that institutions receiving TARP money and other federal liquidity assistance are not making loans or using the
enhanced capital to support workouts on existing loans. FDIC representatives responded that they are in the process of
incorporating ways to monitor institutions' use of TARP funds as part of the agency's supervisory role. Finally, and
perhaps most significantly, NAHB was met with a very positive response when we relayed our members' complaints of
funding cutoffs and inability to get information on loans held by institutions that the FDIC has taken over. Here, Bair and
her staff expressed a strong interest in working with us to improve their receivership processes and develop information
for builders affected by FDIC takeovers. In all, the meeting was a solid step in the right direction toward finding ways to
resolve the ongoing credit crunch for builder acquisition, development and construction financing. Stay tuned for further
updates.
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