Over the course of the past few weeks, the homebuilding industry here in San Bernardino County and throughout the nation have introduced a number of proposals designed to spur home buying and homeownership.

Last week I wrote about stimulus efforts supported on a national level by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). Here at the regional level, Senator Robert D. Dutton, whose Rancho Cucamonga - based 31st Senate District encompasses much of the Baldy View Chapter, introduced Senate Bill (SB) 49, which will establish a homebuyer tax credit for single family homes. Under the legislation being proposed by Dutton, homebuyers who purchase a newly - constructed single family home used as a primary residence will receive a tax credit of up to five percent of the value of the home, not to exceed $10,000.

This bill is expected to both stimulate the economy and revive the housing market by making it easier for people to purchase a new home. When similar legislation was enacted for a nine - month period in 1975 when the nation was experiencing a similar slump in the housing market, it resulted in a nearly 25 percent increase in housing sales the year following the enactment of the credit.

Dutton said that stimulating the housing market will not only help put people back to work in the construction industry, but in other industries as well such as transportation, cabinet makers, utility workers, lenders, accountants, insurers and machinists to name
just a few.

"If we can begin to stabilize the housing market, we will see other areas of business begin to recover as well," Dutton said. "SB 49 is one tool to help stabilize and even revitalize California's housing market."

Dutton's proposal comes at a time when the Building Industry Association of Southern California (BIA/SC) and its chapters met with Senator Barbara Boxer and Senator Dianne Feinstein's senior advisers in Los Angeles and Riverside this week to lobby for additional housing market incentives in the Senate's economic stimulus package.

These meetings were part of a coordinated effort with other BIAs in California and throughout the nation during which builders joined together to ask for viable short-term, targeted homebuyer tax credits that will induce buyers back in the market.

Builders are specifically asking that the final stimulus package increase the credit amount to at least $10,000, extend the eligibility period to December 31, 2009, allow the credit to be used at the time of closing and extend the credit to include all homebuyers

Additionally, the BIA's grassroots effort known as the American Dream Team has generated more than 1,700 letters and numerous personal phone calls to representatives and senators
on the economic stimulus package.

Interestingly enough, these efforts to spur home buying and homeownership occur against a backdrop of homebuilders throughout San Bernardino County converging upon a High Desert town to bring the American Dream of homeownership to a family who's charitable efforts left them in need of all the benefits of new homeownership.

Over the course of little more than a week, a small city arose out of the Joshua trees, live oak and sagebrush of the High Desert hills in Phelan to create a new home for the Almquist family who have devoted their lives to saving wild animals at the Forever Wild Exotic Animal Sanctuary.

When the 20th episode of ABC - TV's Extreme
Makeover Home Edition (EMHE) airs later
this spring, you'll be able to experience watching a
state - of - the -art new home materialize in a
matter of days - and see why today's new home is
the finest new home ever built.

The challenge for the homebuilding professionals who spent last week constructing the new home and wild animal sanctuary was to coordinate thousands of individual volunteers and 35
companies to build the whole complex in 106 hours with two teams of builders working 12 hour shifts.

In little over a week, more than a million dollars of donated time, resources and materials went into this project for a family. Joel Almquist told volunteers, "this is a miracle, my life has
totally changed today."

The fact that one of television's most popular hours is about families receiving homes bespeaks volumes about the importance of the American Dream of Homeownership to families, communities and our economy. With efforts such as SB 49 and various stimulus packages proposed by homebuilders here and nationwide, the American Dream of Homeownership will be available to more of our neighbors than ever while stimulating our economy back on the road to recovery.
*****
By Scott Coler of Capital Pacific Homes, Inc.
President, BIA Baldy View Chapter

PUBLISHED FEBRUARY 14, 2009

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