Helping poor become homeowners

REGARDING YOUR Oct. 11 editorial "Unsound Housing Policy," regardless of what one thinks about the president's zero-down-payment plan, to diminish the impact and importance of down-payment assistance and homeownership for lower-income families is just wrong. According to a recent study by the Milken Institute, in the last 12 years home prices have risen 30 percent faster than wages for lower-income families, creating a growing homeownership affordability gap.

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This gap is making it increasingly difficult for lower-income families to purchase a home without downpayment assistance. However, the same Milken study also showed that families who used Nehemiah's down-payment assistance program have, on average, seen their home equity rise more than $18,000 per family over the past six years.Down-payment assistance works because homeownership is not only a part of the American dream, it is also a vital economic tool that has enabled hundreds of thousands of families to grow and prosper. SCOTT SYPHAX
President and CEO
Nehemiah Corporation of America
Sacramento, Calif.