DALLAS — C. Kent Conine, a home and apartment builder from Dallas, Texas, was elected 2003 president of the 205,000-member National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) during the association's 59th Annual Convention and Exposition in Las Vegas in late January.

Conine is president of Conine Residential Group, which specializes in single-family building, single-family subdivision development, and multifamily development. Since 1981, he has been responsible for the construction, management, and development of more than 3,000 apartment units and the development of several residential communities with a total of more than 1,000 single-family lots.

“Together We Build the American Dream,” which will serve as the central theme of Conine’s presidency, expresses the NAHB federation's collective efforts to expand homeownership, housing affordability, and rental housing opportunities through advocacy on Capitol Hill, in the courts, and in the regulatory arena. The theme also characterizes NAHB’s function as the “Voice of the Housing Industry,” a business sector that plays a critical role in the U.S. economy and employs more than eight million workers nationwide.

“Most importantly, the housing industry will continue to be a driving force in the nation's economy in 2003, and we will work to safeguard this crucial role in order to ensure that the American dream is realizable for every family that seeks it,” Conine said.

“NAHB has set a number of important goals to help promote homeownership, housing affordability, and rental housing opportunities in 2003. Among other items, we will work to enact a new homeownership tax credit in Congress; support creation of a secondary market for acquisition, development, and construction loans in the financing arena; continue pushing for state legislation that can help resolve the liability insurance crisis; and expand our communications channels both within and beyond our federation.”

Conine is a licensed real estate broker and a building industry representative appointed by former Governor George W. Bush to the board of the Texas housing finance agency. He has been an NAHB member for more than 20 years and has served as president of his local and state homebuilders associations and chaired a variety of NAHB committees.

Publication date: 02/10/2003