Here’s what nonprofits are doing to increase BIPOC homeownership

A new collaborative led by Local Initiatives Support Corporation NYC, in partnership with the Center for NYC Neighborhoods and Neighborhood Housing Services of New York City has formed to help increase homeownership for Black, Indigenous and People of Color.

“We're confronting a very, very large gap in the homeownership rates between white New Yorkers. White homeownership in New York City is at 44%,” said Christie Peale, CEO and executive director of Center for NYC Neighborhoods. “But the homeownership rate for black non Hispanic New Yorkers is 19% and for Hispanic New Yorkers, it's 15%. So you can see that there's a really large gap in the homeownership rate in the BIPOC community, and I'll add that for Asian non-Hispanic homeowners the rate is 20%. So still 4% less than white homeowners.”

“The racial homeownership gap isn't just an equity issue in terms of the city's history with redlining and predatory lending and a lot of discriminatory policies,” Peale explained. “But it's also an issue because of the racial wealth gap. Homeownership is still one of the most important ways for Americans to be able to pass on wealth from generation to generation. So we're really, really focused on on untangling some of these challenging knots, that are creating kind of a barrier to developing affordable homeownership units”

A report by the state Comptroller’s office reported that New York has the lowest homeownership rates in the nation, driven by low rates in New York City. Most importantly statewide, 67% of white households in New York owned their home, compared to 52% of Asian households, 34% of Black households, and 29% of Hispanic households.

The initiative, funded by the Wells Fargo Foundation with a $7.5 million grant, aims to help create 5,000 new homeowners of color across the city by the end of 2025. Each nonprofit will lead an initiative, with LISC heading the New York homeownership network, the Center for New York City neighborhoods increasing supply of new affordable homeownership units and NHSNYC leading the open access fund.

“With this initiative, we're creating our open access fund, that is up to $220,000 more of borrowing cash capital for the same individual household.” said Derrick Griggs, CEO of NHSNYC. “By increasing our debt to income ratios to up to 50%, providing more access to capital to clients, we help to further the initiative of providing more homeownership options opportunities to bipoc families.”

Griggs noted how homeownership provides a key benchmark for economic stability for families. “Unfortunately, it’s too frequently out of reach for first-generation Black and brown New Yorkers,” he said. “Post-COVID speculation in lower-income neighborhoods in the boroughs and rising interest rates have only made these roadblocks more acute.” 

“These interventions will not only help first-time homebuyers make real progress towards owning their homes, but will help keep these key assets for building intergenerational wealth in families for the long-term — and ultimately make New York City a better and more equitable city in which to live and grow.”