Who's to blame for the subprime mortgage crisis sweeping the nation? Wall Street bankers who've overleveraged their books by billions of dollars? Or first-time home buyers who received gifts of a few thousand dollars to make the American Dream come true for them?

In a massive mortgage reform bill currently before Washington lawmakers, Congress will vote on whether to keep down payment assistance for those who need it —- or eliminate a vital program for hardworking Americans that has contributed not one iota to the current mortgage crisis.

At issue is the charitable down payment assistance program, a program that helps first-time home buyers leap over the biggest hurdle in buying a new home —- the down payment. Federal law allows a home buyer to receive a down payment as a gift from a relative —- or even from a charitable organization. And several charitable organizations, such as Nehemiah Corp., exist just for that purpose. Over the last 10 years, they have helped a million Americans become homeowners by offering assistance with their down payments —- and they've helped create $10 billion in home equity for those same families.

Some in Washington think this vital program has contributed to the current mortgage mess —- and the bill before Congress threatens the existence of the down payment assistance program. But these are not subprime loans; rather, they are insured by the Federal Housing Administration, much like a Veterans Administration loan. According to the General Accounting Office, 94 percent of home buyers in the down payment assistance program successfully pay their home mortgages without delinquencies or foreclosures. And new numbers on FHA-insured mortgages reinforce this point: Even in the midst of the nation's worst housing crisis, the number of FHA-backed loans that were delinquent or in foreclosure actually declined during the first quarter of 2008.

In Georgia, the down payment assistance program has helped tens of thousands of families. The Nehemiah Corp. alone has provided down payment assistance to 46,691 Georgia families, providing $187 million in down payment assistance. The average income of these families is about $50,000 a year —- and 51 percent of them are female-headed. The likelihood of their being able to buy a home without down payment assistance is remote.

And they are foreclosing at a rate much smaller than the general population. Out of 1,699 DPA mortgages that Pine State Mortgage granted over a two-year period, only nine ended in foreclosure. That is a minuscule .52 percent —- far lower than the foreclosure rates for the larger population. To end this program would be tragic for people trying to buy their first home.

For decades, the federal government has supported, encouraged and even subsidized homeownership —- not just for low- and moderate-income Americans, but for all homeowners through the mortgage-interest tax deduction. And for good reason: Owning a home fulfills the American Dream. Homeownership fosters stability, it gives families a stake in their communities —- and it is the single most important source of wealth for American families. Now is the wrong time to take that great equalizer away from low- and moderate-income families —- especially under the false hope that it will fix a problem that is not of their making.

Congress is well within its rights to pass reforms that address the causes of the current housing crisis. But the real culprits are to be found on Wall Street, not Main Street. Under the guise of mortgage reform, let's not turn our backs on those who need help the most. Nor should we abandon our commitment to fostering homeownership in America. Let's keep the down payment assistance program.

> Robert Motley is CEO of Pine State Mortgage Corp., an FHA lender in Sandy Springs.