UnidosUS Announces New Program to Help 4 Million Latinos Homeownership by 2030
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UnidosUS, formerly known as the National Council of La Raza, announced Wednesday its HOME program aimed at making it easier for 4 million Latinos to own homes in the US: within the next few years.
Unidos US, one of the largest Hispanic organizations in the United States, on Wednesday unveiled its HOME (Home Ownership Meas Equality) program, which has the goal of ensuring that 4 million Latinos in the United States are new homeowners by 2030.
“Home ownership has long offered the most effective path for families to accumulate wealth from generation to generation in the US,” said Janet Murguia, President of Unidos US, at a statement.
“While Latinos continue to face obstacles in becoming homeowners, they also have the greatest opportunity for growth in ownership,” Murguia added.
Por su parte Janneke Ratcliffe, de Urban Institute’s Housing Finance Policy Center, dijo que “Latino households are poised to drive the largest net gain in home ownership in the United States through at least 2040”.
According to the Urban Institute, between 2020 and 2040 Latinos will represent 70% of new home buyers, and according to the credit bureau Freddie Mac mortgage lender, there are currently 8 million of them ready and able to take out a mortgage loan.
Unidos US, formerly known as the National Council of La Raza, lamented that “systemic barriers still exist that deny Latinos full access to achieving their goals in terms of home ownership”.
According to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, in 2022 the homeownership rate among Latinos was 48.7% compared to 76.6% among non-Hispanic whites.
A study by the Hispanic Wealth Project found that , in 2021, 1 in 3 Latino renters cited a lack of sufficient savings for a down payment as their main reason for not buying a home.
Unidos US noted that on average Latinos have a higher debt-to-income ratio than whites applying for a home loan and that is due, in part, to a concentration of Latinos in lower-wage employment sectors.
The Unidos US HOME program has as its first financial support Wells Fargo bank, whose support, according to the statement, “is part of a philanthropic investment of $25 million dollars in Unidos US programs focused on the community”.
Of that amount in donated funds, $10 million will support the development of the HOME initiative, accompanied by a $10 million investment from Unidos US to kick off a campaign to raise $100 million to support the program in the next six years, the statement said.
Information on this new plan to facilitate the access of Latinos to buying homes is available, in English, at this link.