News

May09

BankThink – Congress must act to close the racial homeownership gap

Americaʼs public and private sectors are committing to a more equitable society, one with opportunities for wealth and success regardless of race or ethnicity. To make racial equity a reality, government, corporate and civic leaders must address the wealth gap that diminishes the aspirations, hopes and dreams of families and individuals. The need for federal Continue Reading

Apr07

Visionary LeadHer

Aug25

Black homeownership’s stall during COVID-19 pandemic the ‘epidemic after the epidemic’

Even as mortgage interest rates hit record lows, fueling home-buying, Black Americans lost ground on homeownership, the gap between Black and white owners growing. Eboni Taylor searches online for a home every day. Taylor, 35, and her husband Andarius have been trying to buy a house in Detroit for a year. But student loan debt, Continue Reading

Aug17

What Gentrification Means for Black Homeowners

In historically Black neighborhoods, owners selling their homes on the open market have to grapple with the fact that accepting the highest bid could mean another step toward Black displacement. Nostalgia isn’t enough to keep Thomas Holley, 74, in the Crown Heights brownstone he has lived in for more than 58 years. He got married Continue Reading

Feb11

A New Program Aims to Increase the Number of Black Real Estate Agents in the USA.

  According to the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau, fewer than 6 percent of all real estate professionals are Black, compared to 74.6 percent who are White and 8.79 percent who are Hispanic. This statistic stood out to Antoine Thompson, the executive director of the National Association of Real Estate Brokers, or NAREB. Continue Reading

Feb11

Down Payment Resource Presents Beverly Faull Affordable Housing Leadership Award to NAREB

  NAREB honored for advocating for equal opportunity affordable housing Atlanta, GA, February 4, 2021 — Down Payment Resource (DPR) is proud to announce the National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB) as the 2020 recipient of the Beverly Faull Affordable Housing Leadership Award. The award, named in memory of accomplished real estate veteran Beverly Faull, recognizes an Continue Reading

Feb10

Realtors consider the barriers to the American dream faced by many Americans

By Donna Bryson “It is out there,” one said of housing discrimination. “It is up to us to take note of it and say something when you see it.”   The latest market report from the Denver Metro Association of Realtors shows what all buyers are up against. The median home sales price for January Continue Reading

Feb05

More black women starting businesses in Missouri

By John Pepitone KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Black women are the fastest growing group of business owners in the nation, according to the Federal Reserve Bank. And nowhere has more black women starting businesses than in Missouri. The bank study says black women have an increasing role in the growth of our economy, providing jobs Continue Reading

Feb04

The American Dream Remains Deferred for Black Millennials

By Stacy M. Brown The American Dream is described as a national ethos: a set of ideals in which freedom includes the opportunity for prosperity and success, and upward social mobility for the family and children, achieved through hard work in a society with few barriers. That’s the Wikipedia definition. For African American millennials, the Continue Reading

Feb02

Father and Son launched 450 Million Opportunity Fund

By: James Austin             Propel Opportunity Fund Inc. (www.propelopfund.com) is leading the charge with its preeminent qualified opportunity fund with its headquarters in Macon, Georgia. Propel Opportunity Fund was founded by, two-time National award winner, Frank Austin Jr. and co-founded by, Presidential Lifetime Achievement recipient, James Frank Austin III. Propel Continue Reading

Jan18

The Houston Black Real Estate Association turns 70, hosts gala

By: R.A Schuetz The Houston Black Real Estate Association turns 70 years old this year. Started in a time when racial discrimination in mortgage lending was legal and black Houstonians were not allowed to become realtors, HBREA made equal housing opportunity its founding mission. The organization says it is the oldest minority trade association in Continue Reading

Jan16

NAREB-Memphis celebrates 50 years, welcomes new president

By: Christin Yates The Memphis chapter of National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB) recognized 50 years of outstanding service and contributions by its members and affiliates on Friday, Jan. 11, at the Holiday Inn-University of Memphis. The local chapter also installed 2019-2020 board members, including new president Cheryl Muhammad. “I think one thing that Continue Reading

Nov13

Black, Hispanic homeownership rates remain stuck below whites

By: Janna Herron  What was once the picture of the American dream may now be out of reach for many Americans. Here’s why. Darlene Easley doubted she could ever buy another home. In 2014, the 53-year-old African-American social worker lost her previous house to foreclosure after she went bankrupt over $245,000 in medical bills from Continue Reading

Oct30

Nation’s first black-owned shopping center celebrates 50 years

By: Jake Blumgart | This article originally appeared on PlanPhilly.   The shopping center on Broad and Oxford Streets might not look out of the ordinary to the average passersby. But that hasn’t stopped politicians from Richard Nixon to Barack Obama from staging rallies there. That’s because Sullivan Progress Plaza was the first shopping center in Continue Reading

Oct29

In Tampa Bay, gap is widening between white and black home owners

By: Susan Taylor Martin     Kelvin Jackson is pleased that the house he bought in St. Petersburg has an extra-wide driveway, big enough to park three cars. Shawna Ward likes that her new home in Largo is convenient to her job at the VA medical center and her daughter’s school. And Suzette Mignott is Continue Reading

Oct22

Meet The Women Who Lead The First African American-Owned Real Estate Crowdfunding Platform

By MeiMei Fox The Tulsa Real Estate Fund (TREF) was created to help individuals in low-income neighborhoods combat gentrification through making real estate investments at as low as $500. Ernestine Johnson and Johnetta G. Paye, Esq. both play an instrumental role at TREF, which is the first African American-owned real estate crowdfunding platform. Johnson is Continue Reading

Oct18

American Dream Of Homeownership Eludes Many Black People

  By: Tim Henderson Politicians and advocates have long touted homeownership as the best way to build wealth, saying that over the long term, home values go in only one direction: up. But since the dawn of the 21st century, that promise has been an empty one for many African-Americans. In nearly a fifth of Continue Reading

Oct15

Philadelphia Metropolitan Board of Realist hosts Community Wealth Building Day in Mt. Airy

MT. AIRY — While Northwest Philadelphia families often have a reputation for living in their own homes, some in Mt. Airy, Germantown and West Oak Lane are no longer homeowners. Some local residents desire to put down permanent roots but cannot seem to be able to purchase their own home. This is especially true for Continue Reading

Oct01

Much Left to Do for Homeownership

Editor’s Note: This feature originally appeared in the September issue of DS News. Every year since 1988, Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies (JCHS) has published an annual report entitled “The State of the Nation’s Housing.” Its 2018 edition, released on June 18, came during a year-long celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Continue Reading

Sep14

50 years of struggle: Realizing #DemocracyInHousing

By: BY REP. GREGORY MEEKS (D-N.Y.), OPINION CONTRIBUTOR — 09/13/18 02:00 PM EDT – THE HILL WASHINGTON – At the turn of the 20th century, my parents ventured north from their home in Rock Hill, S.C., as part of the “Great Migration” of African-Americans from the South to jobs in the North. My parents settled Continue Reading