WFG’s Monique Winston on inclusivity and fair lending

Today’s HousingWire Daily interview features an interview with Monique Winston, the vice president-national business development executive/chair, diversity and inclusion council member, at WFG National Title Insurance Company. In this episode, Winston discusses her work at WFG and as an advocate for minority homeownership.

Here is a small preview of the interview with Winston, which has been lightly edited for length and clarity:

Alcynna Lloyd: Monique, as I mentioned prior, you’re nationally renowned as a minority business advocate. You’re also the President of the Cleveland Realtist, a local chapter of the National Association of Real Estate Brokers. As a minority housing advocate and a chief diversity officer, what does your work often entail?

Monique Winston: As an advocate for black homeownership and opportunity, a lot of the initiatives and organizations that I’m involved in really focus on empowering, educating, and uplifting African Americans in terms of homeownership, business, and real estate. For example, as you mentioned, I am the president of the Cleveland Realtist Association, which is the local chapter of the National Association of Real Estate Brokers, also known as NAREB. As a national organization, NAREB is the oldest real estate trade organization, dating back to 1947. So overall, the mission is to promote democracy in housing. Of course, that means focusing on increasing the rate of homeownership for African Americans, but not just for the sake of ownership, but really, because of how it can enhance the quality of life and change generational cycles. We also focus on making sure there is legislation to support our mission. So, whether we are advocating fair housing initiatives or preventing predatory lending practices, or even some things that are not so overt, such as, the impact of student loan debt on students of color, or 21st-century redlining tactics, in any event, legislative advocacy is a big part of what we do. Another important part of the puzzle is promoting industry-related careers.

HousingWire Daily examines the most compelling articles reported from the HousingWire newsroom. Each afternoon, we provide our listeners with a deeper look into the stories coming across our newsroom that are helping Move Markets Forward. Hosted by the HW team and produced by Alcynna Lloyd and Victoria Wickham.