Each year, Americans observe National Hispanic Heritage Month. From September 15 to October 15, they celebrate the histories, cultures and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America.
But amid the celebrations is the knowledge, highlighted in a recent NeighborWorks America Housing and Financial Capability Survey, that the wealth gap for Hispanic and Latino Americans continues. As National Hispanic Heritage Month closes, it's a good time to highlight work being done by NeighborWorks America's network organizations who have long been committed to fighting wealth disparities, especially as the NeighborWorks survey shows the percentage of Latino and Hispanic homeowners decreasing to 46%, a drop of 5%.
At Portland Housing Center (PHC), staff decided seven years ago to reach out to the Latino population to offer financial capability training after success with a program for the city's Black population called Getting Your House in Order. The program, Decide Tu Futuro, provides culturally specific training, says Jackie Butts, homeownership program director for PHC. "We realized there are benefits in teaching financial education in a cultural way," she says. "When we teach culturally, we take into account the audience's shared history around money, beliefs around money and practices around money. It allows for a very robust learning environment."
Butts says attendees and facilitators are members of the same cultural group. Classes are taught in Spanish. "People feel relaxed," she says. "There's a trust factor." Butts, a facilitator for the Getting Your House in Order class, says she'd seen changed beliefs that took a long-term hold. "We created 'Decide' to create that same result."
Decide Tu Futuro, or Decide Your Future, attracts immigrants from many different countries – Mexico, Guatemala, Cuba, says Humberto Carlos, bilingual homebuying specialist and facilitator of the course. "They all have a different context for how the financial world works and how home ownership works."
The class is focused on taking control of your finances, so in the future, home purchase may be possible. But homebuying is into the focus of the class. "We interact a lot," Carlos says. "Everyone has something to share and to teach."
Butts says that in the course, they have participants who may not trust banking systems because of the way things worked – or didn't – in their home countries. "It teaches how the American system of finance and credit and banking works," she says. "We talk about family beliefs and behaviors around money and how that effects what you're doing today."
When they talk about budgeting, for instance, they know attendees may have a line item for money sent back to their home countries. They know that some residents may keep money in the mattress instead of in the bank. "It doesn't have to be explained," Butts says. "When you're talking about your beliefs and why you think that way, you don't have to explain it to the rest of the class. You don't have to justify it."
That creates a more trusting environment, which makes it easier for participants to absorb the information, she says. "We're seeing folks make changes and start reaching their financial goals."
Carlos says at the end of the five-week class, participants often say they are sorry that it's over. "They want us to teach this to their kids," he says. "But I say, ‘you're the one who can teach your kids to learn financial responsibility. As you purchase a home, you're showing them it can be done.'"
Since August, classes have been online. Carlos says he still strives to make them interactive as he conveys the importance of financial education. They discuss everything from feelings about money, to credit reports and taxes, to how to read a paycheck. "The bigger message is how to control finances and not let the finances control you," he says. His clients who take the class often learn about it by word of mouth, from family members or friends of friends. Questions are different at the end of the class than they are at the beginning, he says. "They are more knowledgeable." Bright days are when he hears back from clients who tell him they have been preapproved for a loan.
While they have not done an assessment to explore the difference the class has made, Carlos says anecdotal evidence shows success. Clients report savings accounts and a different approach to managing money. A number have gone on to buy houses.
At Centro Campesino in Florida, more than half of the clients in homebuyer education and pre-purchase counseling classes are Latino. But of those who go on from the classes to purchase homes, says Juan Carlos Astigarrabia, program manager in Centro Campesino's homebuyer/homeowner solutions department, that percentage is much higher. "Out of the 144 closed loans, 121 were Hispanic buyers, or 84 percent. In 2019, the trend was similar ― 86 %," he says. This year, so far, the average also seems to be 86 percent.
Among of those new homebuyers is Keyla Velez Morales. Four years ago, she and her husband moved from Puerto Rico to Florida, where it was easier to find jobs. Their home was a one-bedroom apartment. The bedroom was big, she says, but they have a 6-year-old daughter and wanted more space. "She is growing," Morales says. "I wanted to give my daughter a room. When we started asking the prices for a bigger place, renting seemed the same as owning."
Both Morales and her husband have full-time jobs, and they'd been saving their money for visits back to Puerto Rico. They decided to put that money toward a down payment for a home instead. They received housing counseling and help with the closing through Centro Campesino. Morales says the staff was amazing.
"I always thought about it," she says, of owning her own home. "It was like my dream. I never expected to do it so soon. We did pretty well with the saving."
Their new home is a three-bedroom townhouse. "Three bedrooms!" says Morales.
They moved in at the end of September. And the three bedrooms will be needed, Morales says. She and her husband are expecting a baby in February.
In Miami-Dade County, where Astigarrabia works, 71% of the population is Hispanic/Latino. Nearly 17% are African-American.
"We would like to see more African Americans become homeowners," says Astigarrabia. According to the NeighborWorks survey, Black homeownership was down 8 percent this year, to 40%.
"We do the same marketing and the same outreach," Astigarrabia says. "Most of the homebuyers that actually get to close are Hispanic." He says that Centro Campesino offers classes in both English and Spanish, both in person and, after COVID, in online webinars. Many of their participants are bilingual and switch back and forth.
Astigarrabia says closing the wealth gap is important. "Sometimes homeownership is the only way to get out of poverty for a lower income person," he says. "We talk about that extensively in our classes."
He says some of his clients don't realize that there are programs and subsidies that can make the path to home ownership smoother for their families – help with closing costs and down payment assistance, for instance. In addition, some renters believe they need a credit score of 700 to get a loan at a reasonable rate. However, government-backed loans require as low as 620 in general with competitive interest rates. "Sometimes they find that it is easier than they expected," Astigarrabia says. "They don't realize how many opportunities there are in the community." Part of his job is to tell them.
10/13/2020
