A few years ago in Tampa, Florida, former Mayor Sandy Freedman wanted to do something almost unimaginable: transform public housing tenants into owners of their own homes. She found a way in our Idea of the Week.

The idea is the "soft second" mortgage -- a loan that helps put home mortgages within the reach of low- to moderate-income families. The mortgage can be forgiven entirely if the recipient exhibits responsible home ownership and citizenship conduct over a fixed period of time (5 years in some communities, 10 or 15 in others).

The idea comes from several different directions: the Nehemiah Housing movement which focused on boosting home ownership in the inner city is one; Habitat for Humanity's emphasis on reciprocal responsibility for its beneficiaries is another. Under the Clinton Administration, the Department of Housing and Urban Development has promoted soft second mortgages, and many local efforts -- like Tampa's -- are financed with funds from HUD's HOME and Community Development Block Grant programs.

Ironically, the only known opposition to the soft second mortgage approach is from an occasional self-appointed low-income advocacy group. In Georgia, for example, an advocacy group objected to a seminar required of beneficiaries on how to take care of a new home, on grounds that no bank would treat a private borrower so condescendingly.

We think that's nuts. The soft second mortgage offers not only a good bargain to low-income residents, but the right bargain: a fresh opportunity in exchange for a pledge of personal responsibility, all resulting in a stronger community. We encourage HUD, state and local governments, and community leaders, to pursue this idea whenever possible. Nothing could more dramatically address the problems of low-income Americans and of the inner city than a dramatic increase in home ownership.