President Bush signs American Dream Downpayment Act, a $200 million program designed to help tens of thousands of low-income families to become homeowners is expected to start in the spring. LISC–Bush and HUD Acting Secretary Alphonso Jackson said the initiative will also help meet the Administration’s “Homeownership Challenge” to increase minority homeownership by 5.5 million families by the end of the decade. The program will be administered as a part of HUD’s existing HOME Investment Partnerships Program. To participate, recipients must have annual incomes that do not exceed 80 percent of the area median income and qualified families may use the subsidy for downpayment assistance, such as closing costs and interest reduction. States and local governments with populations over 150,000 or with allocations at least $50,000 by formula will receive funding.