Former HUD Secretary Cisneros to speak at national affordable housing conference

By STEPHANIE GUNTER
UNC News Services

CHAPEL HILL -- Henry Cisneros, former U.S. secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), will be keynote speaker at a national conference on affordable housing Oct. 30 to Nov. 1.

The conference, "This House is Home," will be presented by the Center for Urban and Regional Studies and the Center for the Study of the American South at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Subtitled "Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Affordable Home Ownership," the conference will comprise lectures and discussions by housing and community development professionals, policy-makers, social scientists, artists and humanists from across the country on subjects including:

• changing practices in the planning and design of affordable homes;
• the politics of affordable home ownership;
• benefits of home ownership in terms of wealth creation, mortgage default rates for affordable homes and implications for public policy;
• impacts of home ownership on community development and the self-perceptions of low-income residents; and
• how writers, photographers and filmmakers have depicted the American dream of home ownership.

"The topic of affordable home ownership is a very important one, and a very current one," said Dr. Bill Rohe, director of the Center for Urban and Regional Studies. "Many people believe that home ownership is an important part of the American dream. Providing a opportunity for more people of modest incomes to achieve home ownership has been an important goal of both Democratic and Republican administrations."

Cisneros, HUD secretary under President Clinton from 1993-1997, is now chief executive officer of American CityVista, a company he founded in August 2000 to build affordable homes. He also has been president and CEO of Univision, the Spanish-language broadcaster. First elected mayor of San Antonio in 1981, Cisneros served four consecutive terms and was the first Hispanic American to lead a major American city.

The conference culminates a two-part project by the UNC centers. The first involved photography and oral history by Mebane photographer Bill Bamberger, designed to capture the impact of affordable homes on the lives of moderate-income families.

Bamberger, whose work has appeared in the Smithsonian Institution, the N.C. Museum of Art and other notable venues, interviewed and spoke with homeowners in San Antonio, Chattanooga, Tenn., and rural eastern North Carolina.

Photos from Grifton, N.C., show the journey of William and Shirley Suggs from renters to homeowners, thanks to nonprofit and government agencies working to relocate residents affected by the floods after Hurricane Floyd in 1999.

The National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., will exhibit the photos and excerpts from the interviews Dec. 4- March 7, 2004. Bamberger, known for his book with Cathy Davidson, "Closing: The Life and Death of an American Factory," will speak at the conference and share a photo presentation of his work and experiences in San Antonio.

All sessions will be in the Carolina Club in the George Watts Hill Alumni Center. Conference registration is available online at http://store.yahoo.com/nc-unc-curs/. The cost is $120. Those interested in Cisneros’ speech only, at 6 p.m. Oct. 30, may attend for $15. To register for the speech or for more information on the conference, call the Center for Urban and Regional Studies at (919) 962-3074 or the Center for the Study of the American South at (919) 962-5665.

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(Gunter, of Raleigh, is a senior majoring in journalism and mass communication.)

Note: For conference details and capsule biographies of the speakers, visit http://www.unc.edu/depts/curs/THIHconference.pdf. Information about the UNC Center for Urban and Regional Studies is online at http://www.unc.edu/depts/curs/

Contacts: Dr. Bill Rohe, (919) 962-3077; Joe Mosnier, (919) 962-5931
News Services Contact: L.J. Toler, (919) 962-8589