Making residents comfortable with language, learning

Over her 15 years as a homebuyer education teacher, credit boot camp instructor and counselor at Urban Edge, Gercide Luc has talked with people of many backgrounds. She's listened to questions. She's noticed trends. One of those trends included an increase in the number of Haitian clients seeking to talk to her about foreclosure.

"Whenever we see something that's missing, we try to add it to our services," she says. To assist and prepare Haitian clients, Urban Edge began offering education courses in Haitian Creole. Luc taught the classes twice a year. This year, she'll teach it three times. Boston, where Urban Edge is based, is in the top four U.S. cities for Haitian immigrants, according to the Migration Policy Institute.

"I saw that there were a lot of abuses in the Haitian community because of a lack of understanding about what the process is and what to do," Luc says. But once clients understand how things work, they embrace the process, she says. When they learn the importance of good credit scores, for instance, "they protect them like a fragile egg. Someone said recently, ‘I will know these things for a lifetime.' But they have to have a pathway to get the information." 

Learning with students of similar cultural backgrounds can help them better navigate. And in class, some things take extra explaining. There isn't a Haitian Creole word for "appraisal," for instance. Debt-to-income ratio also doesn't translate, so she uses words like "proportion." She often explains terms to native English-speakers, too.

Luc says the immigrants who come through her programs work hard, sometimes at two jobs. They have the income for stable housing, she says. They just need to be on the right path to manage that income. 

Milca Pierre was nearly ready for her own home when she took a class through Urban Edge four years ago. But she learned that she needed to raise her credit score. Luc helped her talk with creditors and work out payment plans. Last year, Pierre took the homebuying course a second time. She took it in Haitian Creole, though she's been living in the United States and speaking English for decades.

"I'm comfortable with both languages, but Creole is my native language," says Pierre, who works in a medical lab as she finishes her college degree. Luc's class and counseling gave her confidence as she applied for her loan. "It was like she was doing it for herself or her family. I felt really safe," Pierre says. 

In December, Pierre and daughter moved into their colonial-style home. "I always wanted my own home," Pierre shares. "And the rent was going sky high. I wanted to invest in my own home; not somebody else's." Her mortgage is lower than her rent had been, she says. "I'm very, very happy."

The homeownership rate for communities of color is lower than that of other groups, according to NeighborWorks America's Housing and Financial Capability Survey. The 2021 survey found the homeownership rate for Blacks to be 42%, compared to 62% of all households, while 53% of Hispanic and Latinx households own their own homes. Obstacles to homeownership include uncertainty surrounding credit scores, financial applications declined because of credit, and doubting their chance of approval for homeownership. 

"Homeownership is and always has been one of the most important ways families are able to build wealth," says Susan M. Ifill, NeighborWorks America's chief operating officer. "The barriers to homeownership continue to disproportionately effect communities of color. Our goal is to help remove those barriers and let people that were led to believe they can't buy a home know that they absolutely can." 

Access to credit remains a challenge to homeownership, particularly among Black and Hispanic or Latinx adults, she says. "Urban Edge's impact on their clients' understanding of and approach to maintaining a good credit history is exemplary. It will have a huge impact on increasing the number of homeowners in a community of color, and their potential to build wealth." Educational work like this, at Urban Edge and other NeighborWorks organizations, "helps break down barriers and helps increase homeownership across the country — it's a win for all of us."

Filip Ramil, a mortgage banking officer at Webster Bank, has worked with several of Luc's clients. Impact-wise, homebuyer education "is essential," he says. Clients come in with much more of an understanding about the whole process. "Buying a home, especially for the first time, is a daunting process. When you have a team of experienced and trusted professionals to guide you, it makes a huge difference."