HUD, the U.S. Dept of Housing and Urban Development, will be sponsoring a two day summit in Washington this week. Several housing and finance staff from the city, county, and state government were invited to attend, as well as reps from the banking/housing industry, non-profit organizations, and many foundations. The summit is being held to discuss the nation´s troubling housing issues. There will be briefings by HUD officials and panel discussions about HOPE for the Homeowners program, the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, the Neighborhood Stabilization program, and other programs on foreclosure prevention and loss migration.

The main goals of the summit are to discuss the above programs to be introduced, share and reflect upon on going Federal and State local policies/programs that are already effectively preventing foreclosures or counteracting the effects of abandoned properties and lowering home values, to promote public-private partnerships, and to provide an open forum to debate and share the best ways to help and revive the housing market.

Steve Preston, the secretary for HUD, said that “It is imperative that we take a coordinated approach to meeting our nation’s critical housing issues since any solution will require active partnerships at every level,...The purpose of this summit is to bring together leaders from government, industry and the nonprofit sectors to strengthen existing partnerships that will be critical to stabilizing our communities and mitigating the effects of foreclosure in the months ahead.”

Further information can be found at: www.hcdi.com/housing_summit.