Today, the National Association of Minority Mortgage Bankers of America hosted a state of the industry town hall. The webinar featured discussions led by industry professionals on minority homeownership topics.
Mortgage Bankers Association senior vice president, Steve O’Connor, led the initial discussion on minority homeownership and the MBA’s Black Homeownership initiative. Some challenges the MBA cited were preservation and production of affordable housing stock, financing options and access to mortgage credit.
“It’s not one thing that’s going to fix our affordability challenges,” O’Connor said.
O’Connor’s examination spotlighted the city of Memphis and cited specific gaps in:
- Knowledge, and the misinformation and myths that lead to borrowers pulling out of the market.
- Trust, and the rehabilitation of it after the 2008 market crash
- Market, and the inventory, supply, and quality for a diverse group of homeowners
- and Resources, including funds necessary to gain homeownership and where to find them
“The delta between the non-Hispanic white and the minority homeowners, these are persistent gaps going back decades,” O’Connor said. “If we can’t figure out how to close these gaps, we’re going to have a much smaller marketplace to serve and we’re not going to have a healthy marketplace.”
Other speakers included in NAMMBA’s town hall were Freddie Mac’s single family affordable lending manager, David Mendez, on minority homeownership creation with housing finance agencies, and iEmergent’s CEO, Laird Nossuli, on empowering lenders to increase home ownership.
