Santa Monica, CA–(HISPANIC PR WIRE – BUSINESS WIRE)–June 22, 2007–CityView Executive Chairman Henry Cisneros was honored with the prestigious 2007 “Housing Person of the Year” Award at the National Housing Conference’s (NHC) 35th Annual Gala last night in Washington, D.C. This honor is the second prestigious award bestowed on Cisneros this month by the housing industry. On June 9, Cisneros was inducted into the National Association of Home Builders “National Housing Hall of Fame” for outstanding lifetime achievements in the housing industry. Cisneros’ most recent contribution to the industry was the focus of a press conference in Washington, D.C. earlier in the week. Cisneros was part of a bipartisan group to reveal findings and recommendations of a forthcoming book advocating a holistic approach to housing in cities.
“It is an honor to receive recognition from two of the most important organizations in the housing industry and join individuals who have excelled in providing many families one of the essentials of life – a decent home in which to live,” said Cisneros. “Today, my colleagues at CityView and American Sunrise are innovating in the application of institutional capital to build needed homes for working families in cities across the nation.”
As Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in the 1990s, Cisneros championed policies that contributed to the nation’s highest-ever homeownership rate and guided the massive renovation of public housing developments in order to revitalize the central neighborhoods of dozens of American cities. Cisneros is an author, spokesman and national advocate in support of the production of housing units of all kinds, from supportive housing for the homeless to market-rate workforce housing in the nation’s cities. As Executive Chairman of CityView, a national housing investor, Cisneros has pioneered in the application of institutional capital for partnerships with America’s best homebuilders and developers to finance, assemble, and entitle land for the development of market-rate workforce housing.
In addition to project equity, CityView’s “capital plus” strategy offers partners debt financing, entitlement support, community outreach, insurance and project marketing. Since its inception in 2003, CityView has become an industry leader with more than $700 million in equity and $2 billion in real estate capacity. CityView has financed the building of more than 6,000 homes in 14 states. CityView has offices in Chicago, Dallas and San Antonio and is headquartered in Santa Monica, California.
In 2006, Cisneros and Joel Shine, president of CityView, expanded San Antonio-focused American Sunrise Communities into a national non-profit to leverage public, private and non-profit resources to facilitate large scale homeownership opportunities for low-income and minority families excluded from the housing market. American Sunrise collaborates with public institutions, builders, community lenders, faith-based organizations, major employers, and non-profit groups to provide housing opportunities for income-limited families throughout the United States.
Each year, in our nation’s capital, the National Housing Conference honors a person who has contributed significantly to the goal of increased housing and strong, healthy communities throughout the nation. The event, which attracted nearly 1,000 key industry leaders, was an annual celebration of achievement. Past recipients have included Stephen M. Ross, chairman and CEO of The Related Companies and Angelo R. Mozilo, chairman and CEO of Countrywide Financial Corporation.
“Without question Henry Cisneros has demonstrated a life-long dedication to providing housing to America’s working families, and it was our distinct honor to present him with the NHC 2007 ‘Housing Person of the Year’ Award,” said NHC Chair Helen Kanovsky, COO of the AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust. “As secretary of HUD, he is credited with initiating the transformation of public housing developments nationwide and with developing the policies that led to today’s record homeownership rates. In addition, under his leadership, CityView has helped ensure thousands of market-rate housing for American’s families.”
The National Housing Hall of Fame was established in 1976 and honors inductees whose life’s work has affected the landscape of our country, making America one of the best-housed nations in the world. Since 1976, more than two hundred individuals have been inducted into the Hall of Fame. Cisneros is the first Mexican-American to be inducted into the National Housing Hall of Fame.
“The National Housing Hall of Fame recognizes individuals whose spirit, ingenuity and determination have changed the face of housing history for the better. Secretary Cisneros’ significant contributions to the housing industry throughout his extraordinary career made him a fitting recipient of the highest honors the housing industry bestows,” said Brian Catalde, a Southern California homebuilder and president of the National Association of Home Builders.
Cisneros’ latest contribution was revealed earlier this week at the National Press Club when he joined former U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Jack Kemp and scholars Kent W. Colton and Nicolas P. Retsinas of Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies to discuss “Our Communities, Our Homes: Pathways to Housing and Homeownership in America’s Cities and States,” the group’s book based on an examination of successful housing programs in U.S. cities.
Among the book’s key findings is that the most effective programs look at the housing continuum – supportive housing, public housing, rental housing and for-sale homes – as parts of a whole rather than separate, unrelated programs. Also cited are specific actions and tools that local and state governments can take toward achieving such important goals as reducing chronic homelessness, preserving affordable rental homes, and boosting sustainable homeownership.
Published by Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, the book will be available later this summer through the Center.
About CityView
CityView provides financing for America’s urban homebuilders and offers its partners support unsurpassed within its industry. CityView makes market-rate workforce housing happen by offering a flexible source of combined debt and equity financing and its “capital plus”
Strategy – a one-stop resource for entitlement support, land acquisition, governmental assistance, marketing, community outreach and project insurance. CityView has offices in Chicago, Dallas, and San Antonio and is headquartered in Santa Monica. CityView currently has over 6,000 units under development in 14 states. For more information about CityView please visit http://www.cityview.net.
About The National Housing Conference
For more than 75 years, the National Housing Conference (NHC) has been the nation’s premier public policy and housing advocacy organization. A coalition of affordable housing experts from the public and private sectors, it is an essential source of broad, nonpartisan information concerning national housing policy. For additional information, please go to http://www.nhc.org.
About NAHB
The National Association of Home Builders is a Washington-based trade association representing more than 235,000 members involved in home building, remodeling, multifamily construction, property management, subcontracting, design, housing finance, building product manufacturing and other aspects of residential and light commercial construction. Known as “the voice of the housing industry,” NAHB is affiliated with more than 800 state and local home builders associations around the country. NAHB’s builder members will construct 80 percent of the more than 1.56 million new housing units projected for 2007.
