Metro Phoenix part of $100M initiative to boost Latino homeownership. Here's how
Catherine Reagor, Arizona Republic
5 min read
It’s tougher for all first-time buyers to get into a home of their own now, due to higher prices, interest rates and low supply.
For some buyers, it’s even harder.
Latinos have long had a tougher time getting mortgages because of lending discrimination and inflexible home loan requirements. The homeownership rate among Latinos in Arizona still greatly lags the rate for white homeowners.
In metro Phoenix, a 50% increase in home prices since 2020 has meant many Latino homebuyers must move far from neighborhoods they grew up in to find a house they can afford. And that’s if they can find one for sale.
But the Valley was picked as one of five U.S. cities to be part of a $100 million UnidosUS initiative to break down barriers to Latino homeownership. Called HOME, which stands for "home ownership means equity," the plan is to update lending guidelines, boost housing supply and provide more housing counseling.
“Homeownership has gotten very expensive,” said Patricia Garcia Duarte, executive vice president of homeownership initiatives at Chicanos Por La Causa, at a meeting to launch the UnidosUS initiative in Phoenix last week. “One of the biggest barriers now is the ability to find a home at the right price range.”
She said also the financial sector must change the way it lends and “truly help people of color” because Latino household formation is leading the nation’s growth.
Laura Arce, senior vice president of economic initiatives with the nonprofit advocacy group UnidosUS, called homeownership much more than just a gateway to building generational wealth.
She said owning a house has a strong impact on educational outcomes, health, security and safety for people.
Latinos lead growth, lag in homeownership
UnidosUS senior vice president of economic initiatives, Laura Acre speaks on a Latino homeownership panel at the Chicanos Por La Causa Women's Business Center on Nov. 6, 2023, in Phoenix, AZ.
In 2022, Latino households increased by 628,000 across the U.S. That’s more than double the growth of non-Hispanic white households, according to the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals.
And in 2022, there were 7.9 million mortgage-ready Latinos below the age of 45. That means they had high credit scores, low debt and no foreclosures or bankruptcies for seven years.
But in 2021, Latinos were 47% more likely to be turned down for a mortgage than non-Hispanic borrowers.
“We need to make homeownership more accessible, especially in historically marginalized communities,” said Kristy Fercho, head of diverse aegments, representation and inclusion at Wells Fargo, which is the first major funder of the HOME initiative.
The HOME program’s goal is to increase Latino homeownership by four million households by 2030. Besides Phoenix, UnidosUS is launching it in Chicago, Houston, Orlando, Florida, and Stockton, California.
Helping more Latinos prosper with homes
Chicanos Por La Causa executive vice president of homeownership initiatives, Patricia Garcia Duarte speaks on a Latino homeownership panel at the CPLC Women's Business Center on Nov. 6, 2023, in Phoenix, AZ.
Here’s how the HOME program will work to try to help Latino homebuyers:
Working with banks and mortgage firms and lobbying in D.C. to update lending rules to include self-employed borrowers, expand language access and increase credit options.
Increasing housing supply by backing higher density through zoning reforms and leveraging federal tax policy to boost the supply of homes.
Preserving homeownership by increasing access to home renovation loans and backing policies for generational wealth transfer.
Working with affiliate groups like Chicanos Por La Causa to provide consumer education and housing counseling.
Supporting Latino leadership who share experiences with housing.
“I look at the city of Phoenix that’s been my home for nearly 30 years, and 42% of the population is Latino,” said Gina Montes, deputy city manager for Phoenix. “So if Latinos are getting left behind in homeownership, how can Phoenix truly prosper as a community?”
From redlining to transformation in Phoenix
Housing discrimination, including disastrous government-supported redlining, is still hurting Phoenix Latino homeowners and buyers more than 50 years after it was struck down as illegal and predatory.
Neighborhoods across south Phoenix still have low homeownership rates among Black and Latino people after areas south and east of downtown were redlined by the federal government in the 1930s. That designation, the only one given to an area in Arizona, meant banks wouldn’t lend to people trying to buy homes there.
The government act of redlining, as well as deed restrictions on where people of color could buy homes and other unfair practices, pushed many Black and Latino families south of downtown Phoenix and across the Salt River into substandard housing.
“The redlining past is not behind us,” said ASU professor Rashad Shabazz. “The past is actually under our feet right now, and we're living it.”
He said the discrimination that created “an uneven housing” situation is still happening.
The data shows it. The latest census data shows in Arizona that white homeownership was 73% in 2020. The Latino homeownership rate was 55%.
Shabazz and Arce say it’s time for a “transformation.”
“Latino homeownership is about transformation,” he said. “It's about the extent to which we want to transform our city and our society and make this population the centerpiece of that transformation.”
Arce said the transformation for her family was when her grandparents moved to California from Mexico in the 1950s and, as manual workers, saved and bought a home.
“I look back and think of all the hard work my grandparents did to buy a house and help their children go to college and buy a home,” she said.
Arce said those decisions “transformed the trajectory of my family. Now I own a home, and my children are going to college.”
I had the opportunity to moderate this important discussion about Latino homeownership, and so appreciated the stories the group shared about how their parents owning a home changed their trajectories.
Senior real estate reporter and columnist Catherine Reagor moderated the discussion during the UnidosUS HOME initiative launch event on Nov. 6. Reach the reporter at catherine.reagor@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8040. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @CatherineReagor.
