Your Investment at Work

Home Ownership Means Equity

This summer, UnidosUS launched HOME (Home Ownership Means Equity), a new national initiative to influence systemic change and create four million new Latino homeowners by 2030.

Latinos believe in the power of homeownership because it provides stability for their families, contributes to economic mobility, and builds intergenerational wealth. In fact, Latino homeowners have 28 times the wealth of their counterparts who are renters. Nationwide, eight million Latinos are mortgage-ready, and over the next 20 years, the Urban Institute – UnidosUS’s partner in the initiative – forecasts that Hispanics will comprise 70% of new homeowners, playing a critical role in the success of the housing market.

Despite these trends, systemic barriers deny Latinos full access to achieving their homeownership goals. In 2022, the Hispanic homeownership rate was 48.7% compared to 76.6% for white homeownership. According to the FDIC, Latinos experience higher loan denial rates and higher interest rates when approved for mortgages than their white counterparts.

Through cross-sector partnership, HOME will address challenges Latinos face when trying to buy a home by expanding market opportunities and helping mortgage-ready Latinos create pathways to build their credit, afford a down payment, overcome language barriers, avoid predatory lending, and get approved for a sustainable mortgage.

“Homeownership has long provided the most effective pathway for families to build generational wealth in America. Our comprehensive strategy will help shape needed policy reforms while providing tools and resources Latinos need to successfully navigate the homebuying process. Bolstering Latino homeownership isn’t just smart policy; it will pay economic dividends to neighborhoods, communities, and our country,” said Janet Murguía, President and CEO of UnidosUS.”

Among its many approaches, the comprehensive HOME agenda includes modernizing lending rules and supporting ITIN holders and self-employed borrowers; increasing housing supply through zoning reforms; bolstering Latino leadership in the housing industry; and partnering with Affiliates to provide consumer education and housing counseling. UnidosUS is bolstering the initiative by deploying targeted investments to Affiliate partners in selected cities, the first cohort of which includes Chicago, Houston, Phoenix, Stockton, and Orlando.

Thanks to the unwavering support of donors like you, our families will have access to a new HOME!

For more information, visit www.unidosus.org/homeownership.