WASHINGTON, DC – The National Housing Conference (NHC) submitted testimony to the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing on the statehood and barriers to black homeownership. There are many details of this complicated issue that have contributed to African-American homeownership decline to a level lower than when the Fair Housing Act was passed in 1968. Yet, dangerous myths continue to undercut efforts to understand why this homeownership gap persists.
“The root causes of the Black and minority homeownership gap are multifaceted, as are the solutions. While there is no silver bullet, NHC’s Black Homeownership Working Group has compiled various contributing factors to the gap and possible ways to address them…It is likely that many African Americans who lost their homes were first refinanced into toxic mortgage products they could not maintain. The worsening recession leveraged these trends, and concentrations of foreclosures in poor, historically African-American neighborhoods drove up vacancy and blight, which further fed the cycle…Our challenge today is how we reverse this trend, for all Americans, but particularly for those disproportionally impacted, and in the case of African-Americans, for those who continue to see homeownership rates fall,” said David Dworkin, president and CEO of NHC.
The hearing will be live streamed tomorrow at 10 a.m. EDT.
NHC will continue to work with policymakers and its diverse members to address black homeownership barriers and create modern lasting solutions.
The National Housing Conference has been defending our American Home since 1931. #OurAmericanHome @natlhousingconf
About NHC: The National Housing Conference has been defending the American Home since 1931. We believe everyone in America should have equal opportunity to live in a quality, affordable home in a thriving community. NHC convenes and collaborates with our diverse membership and the broader housing and community development sectors to advance our policy, research and communications initiatives to effect positive change at the federal, state and local levels. Politically diverse and nonpartisan, NHC is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.
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