Affordable Housing

Jesse Jackson’s column (April 9) is so absurd that I have to believe he neither wrote the article himself nor saw it before it was published.

Jackson claims that “HUD’s houses often remain vacant for three years or more” and that “less than 1%” are used to help the homeless. The facts are a little different: the average HUD home stays vacant for only six months, and up to 10% are used to help homeless Americans. The majority of houses must be resold to maintain the financial health of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) fund, which provides housing opportunities for millions of low and moderate-income families.

To suggest that the Bush Administration “has no plan for adequate housing” and that I “lobbied against the National Affordable Housing Act” is extremely irresponsible for a shadow senator in Congress. As Jackson must know, the Administration’s HOPE and HOME initiatives form the cornerstone of the National Affordable Housing Act. Far from lobbying against it, President Bush and I urged the Democrats in Congress to fund the program this year, instead of waiting until 1992.

Unfortunately, the Democrats denied our request.

Perhaps if Jackson put as much effort into persuading his Democratic colleagues to fund President Bush’s housing initiatives as he does waging ad hominem attacks on me, we might make some real progress in helping low-income families have access to decent, safe, affordable housing.

JACK KEMP

Secretary of Housing and Urban

Development, Washington, D.C.