People

The Local Initiatives Support Corporation has announced the appointment of Michael Rubinger as interim president and CEO. Rubinger served at LISC 1980-90 and rejoined as chief operating officer in 1997. He was executive vice-president of the Pew Charitable Trusts in the interim.

President Clinton has nominated Dr. Susan Wachter as HUD Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research. Dr. Wachter has more than 20 years experience in housing analysis, has pioneered work on homeownership affordability, and has been Chair of the Real Estate Department and Professor of Real Estate and Finance at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania since 1997.

President Clinton also recently nominated New York State Senator Franz S. Leichter to the Federal Housing Finance Board and Carol J. Parry as a member of the the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. Senator Leichter has been on the New York State Banking Committee since 1975 and has helped establish and fund affordable housing and community improvement organizations in northern Manhattan. Parry recently retired as executive vice president and member of Chase Manhattan Bank's Policy Council and director of the Chase Community Development Group. Ms. Parry had been at Chase (and its predecessor banks) for 20 years and directed a number of major bank divisions.

Carol Gallant has joined the Development Training Institute (DTI) in Baltimore, MD, as vice president for program development. Previously, she was senior program officer for the Local Initiative Support Corporation's national rural initiative, Rural LISC, in Washington, DC. DTI is expanding as a result of a $14 million contract award from HUD to train community leaders throughout the country.

Maria Sayers has been promoted to director of development of National Housing Conference (NHC). Sayers will be responsible for designing and implementing strategies to build membership and revenue of the organization. Dorothea (Thea) Beckering joins the staff, taking over Sayers' former position as director of operations. Michelle Clayton joins the staff as communications manager.

Fannie Mae has pledged to help Pine Ridge Reservation residents with home mortgages as part of a $1.5 billion private investment effort for housing and economic development aid for American reservation Indians. Fannie Mae is also launching House South Dakota, a five-year, $500 million plan to help 6,500 families, including those on reservations, achieve homeownership. Initiatives in the five-year plan include $3 million over five years for affordable housing and related facilities, and a $1 million deal for the Oglala Sioux Nation to obtain low downpayment conventional mortgages to buy trust land homes. Information: Fannie Mae Consumer Resource Center, 800-732-6643.

HUD recently announced 81 awardees of $25 million in grants to create jobs, spark economic development, and build and improve housing in rural areas and Puerto Rico. Over 700 applicants competed for the awards. About $17 million in grants will go to innovative local programs. The rest will be used to start new programs, bolster existing programs, and help recipients running housing and economic development programs improve their capacity. Full report available at www.hud.gov/news.html.

Eight Washington state lenders have purchased $5.3 million in housing commission bonds to finance the first round of the Rural CRA Taxable Single-Family Bond Program. The program, launched in June by the lenders, Fannie Mae and the Washington State Housing Finance Commission, may allow as many as 65 low-income families to buy homes in rural communities. Qualifying home buyers can get $5,000 in down payment assistance and a below-market 5.75 percent rate on a 30-year loan. Participating lenders earn credits toward their CRA obligations. Information: Washington State Housing Finance Commission, 206-464-7139.

The NeighborWorks® network will use a $770,000 grant from the Citigroup Foundation to enhance education about insurance in lower-income communities across the country. The grant will support NeighborWorks® HomeOwnership Centers in New York City, Chicago, and Richmond; the broadening and integration of insurance curriculum into other courses on homeownership, mortgage lending, and rehab construction; scholarships for Neighborhood Reinvestment Training Institutes in 1999; and a partnership between the insurance industry and community development organizations to test new strategies, initially at five pilot sites (to be announced), to reduce losses and increase the affordability of homeowners insurance. Information: Claudia Askew, Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation, 202-220-2361; Helen Steblecki, Citigroup, 718-248-3749.