Nehemiah Corporation of America Comments on Successful Summary Judgment Decision in Lawsuit Against HUD

SACRAMENTO, Calif., March 3 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The followingstatement is in response to the decision by the United States DistrictCourt for the Eastern District of California to rule against the U.S.Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) rule to ban privatedownpayment assistance as proposed in the "Standards for Mortgagor'sInvestment in Mortgaged Property" regulation published October 1, 2007. "We are thrilled with the Court's decision to support low-to-moderateincome families across the country by ruling against HUD's attempt to banprivate downpayment assistance. This is a major and conclusive judgment,leaving no uncertainty that downpayment assistance is a life line to thefamilies that Nehemiah serves. It is heartening to see that the Court'sarguments echo our sentiments and concerns. This decision preserves accessand supports the use of sensible and reasonable approaches to homeownershipfor millions of working class families. The Nehemiah Program has grantedmore than $1 billion in gifts in the past decade, helping more than 250,000American families achieve the American dream. It is a privilege to continueproviding a helping hand to America's underserved families by building bothsafer communities and financial strength through homeownership. As we havesaid before, we look forward to working with HUD to support deservingfamilies across the country." - Scott Syphax, President and CEO of Nehemiah Corporation of America,the largest and oldest private downpayment assistance provider. To date, privately-funded downpayment assistance programs have helpedover 600,000 families become homeowners, and have been credited not onlyfor helping people buy homes, but also stabilizing neighborhoods and citiesand creating stronger families.