The Down Payment needed to purchase a house has proven to be the biggest barrier to home ownership. This  has left out hard working middle class families who have dreamed of home ownership and leaving a legacy for their families...This is especially true for BIPOC families  who are less likely than white families to be priced out of the market when purchasing a home. 

This trend of housing instability has led to a loss of generational wealth being passed onto the next generation, impacting the family status of living in poverty and unable to change the trajectory for the next generation.  

Solution - Please support our campaign for bipartisanship support for homeownership and affordable housing through Down Payment Assistance...Having legislation to remove the barrier to homeownership, lack of down payment assistance, which has been introduced by Rep Maxine Waters which has bipartisanship support which includes Democrats and Republicans. This would allow families priced out of the homeownership market to increase home ownership and allow many families to fulfill their dream of home ownership which leads to building generational wealth and leaving a legacy for their families, lifting them out of grabs of poverty.   https://www.housingwire.com/articles/here-it-is-bidens-homebuyer-tax-credit-legislation/

Home ownership leads to less crime, less transiency which leads to a stable education for students, stable family and a stable community. 

FACT - Many home owners used the equity in their homes to finance their dream of sending their children to college or buying/building a business...Owning a home meant that a family could earn enough wealth to pay for education or start a business siness.  https://www.enterprisecommunity.org/covid19/racial/disparities 

Home ownership leads to less student debts and debt defaults.

FACT -  According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2019 the homeownership rate was 42.1 percent for Black, 47.5 percent for Latinx, and 73.4 percent for White households. Census estimates for the second quarter of 2020 report that the Black homeownership rate of 47.0 percent, and 76.0 percent for nonHispanic White households. Please see  NAREB State of Housing in Black America for full report. https://www.nareb.com/shiba-report/

FACT - Home ownership leads to a better quality of life and will fulfill the dreams of many families wanting to fulfill their potential of being a home owners and leaving a legacy for their loved ones.  

It has been documented that race discrimination has played a part in the disparities of BIPOC families when it comes to the economy and home ownership.   https://www.npr.org/sections/live-updates-protests-for-racial-justice/2020/07/15/891434373/racism-has-an-economic-cost-atlanta-fed-president-warns

FACT - The racial issues pushed to the forefront of national discourse by George Floyd's death a year ago remain more prominent in Americans' minds today than they were at the start of 2020. https://news.gallup.com/poll/350165/heightened-racial-concern-clear-legacy-floyd-death.aspx

FACT - The Federal Reserve reports that the average homeowner in 2016 had a household wealth of $231,400, compared to the average renter having a household wealth of just $5,200.  https://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/files/scf17.pdf

FACT - People of color and low-income families were already facing crushing housing cost burdens and housing instability, stemming in large part from structural racism and a long history of discriminatory housing and lending practices. Last year, a larger share of Black and Latino renters had difficulty paying rent than white households, and the homeownership gap between Black and white families reached record highs. NeighborWorks America's Chief Operating Officer Susan M. Ifill says that partnerships and preserving affordable properties are key to making homeownership possible and closing the homeownership gap.

FACT -  During the Great Recession, Black and Latino households, many of whom lived in neighborhoods that were ravaged by foreclosures or steep housing price declines, suffered devastating losses of household wealth, and they still haven’t caught up. For low-income renters of all races and ethnicities, housing cost burdens have soared in recent years, despite a strong economy.

FACT - In fact, the nearly 30-percentage-point gap between White and Black homeownership today is actually larger than the 27-percentage-point gap that existed in 1960 when housing discrimination was legal, according to Urban Institute data.  https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/new-data-suggest-covid-19-widening-housing-disparities-race-and-income

FACT - Across Georgia, there is a shortage of rental homes affordable and available to extremely low income households (ELI), whose incomes are at or below the poverty guideline or 30% of their area median income (AMI). Many of these households are severely cost burdened, spending more than half of their income on housing. Severely cost burdened poor households are more likely than other renters to sacrifice other necessities like healthy food and healthcare to pay the rent, and to experience unstable housing situations like evictions.
https://nlihc.org/housing-needs-by-state/georgia