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Home Building Helped in Anaheim Stimulus Package
The city of Anaheim, Calif. recently enacted a comprehensive economic stimulus package that included several major actions — impact fee payments, first-time home buyer assistance, green building assistance, the development of affordable housing units and the authorization of a directional sign program designed to direct potential residents to new home developments — aimed at reviving residential construction.
The Building Industry Association of Southern California, Orange County Chapter (BIA/OC) supported the efforts led by Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle and the city council.
“Given the tremendous amount of progress that the city of Anaheim has been able to accomplish over the last several years, many of the largest private investors in the city are residential and commercial developers,” said Kristine Thalman, CEO of the BIA/OC.
“BIA/OC is proud to partner with progressive city leaders that understand the broader economic picture to find common sense solutions to some of the pressures that our industry is facing,” she said.
Mayor Pringle championed the proposal — the most comprehensive approved stimulus package in Southern California, and perhaps, statewide ― to set an example to other cities.
“This economic stimulus plan is going to allow Anaheim to get moving, to create many new neighborhoods and continue with the redevelopment of the Platinum Triangle,” he said.
Equally important to the scope of the stimulus proposal is its timing. Because of the downturn, new construction in Anaheim has slowed considerably, which has had a ripple effect on everything from the furniture industry to the auto industry and countless local small businesses.
For his role in championing the stimulus package, Pringle will be honored as the 2008 local government official of the year at NAHB’s Government Affairs Recognition Awards breakfast during the spring board meeting in Washington, D.C. this week.
 Mark Your Calendar for the 2008 NAHB Legislative Conference
The 2008 NAHB Legislative Conference provides a unique opportunity for builders to meet with their members of Congress, discuss the issues that affect their business and bottom line and establish a lasting relationship with their elected federal officials.
The day-long conference on Wednesday, April 30 coincides with the NAHB spring board meeting in Washington, D.C.
Builders are encouraged to travel to the nation’s capital to urge their representatives and senators to support policies that stabilize housing, restore confidence in the credit markets and bolster the nation’s economy.
Members of Congress are being urged to:
- Support a temporary home buyer tax credit to boost sales, reduce excess inventory in housing markets and halt the dangerous erosion of house prices
- Enact Federal Housing Administration modernization to assist first-time and moderate-income home buyers and alleviate the mortgage credit crunch
- Adopt comprehensive reform legislation for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to enable these financial institutions to provide badly needed liquidity to the mortgage market
- Expand the mortgage revenue bond program to help strapped borrowers refinance existing loans
- Allow businesses to carry back net operating losses for more than two years to save jobs and help them weather the economic storm
For more information and to register for NAHB’s 2008 Legislative Conference, click here; or e-mail Molly Murray at NAHB, or call her at 800-368-5242 x8282.
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