Happy 2024! I am so glad you decided to join me on this journey this year. There’s a lot to share.
At the top of the year, I received a phone call from a woman I once worked with. Let’s call her ‘Lucy’. She and I had built a special connection over the two years I worked at the property she lived in, and although I had not spoken to her in over a year, I was not surprised to receive her call. Upon ending the call, I reminisced on how we met and was brought back to when she bounced into my office during my first few weeks to tell me that she wanted my help purchasing a home for her and her children. Her excitement was palpable, and I couldn’t help but be overjoyed as well. Like me, she’s a Black woman and an immigrant who came to this country to realize the American dream. Unlike me, though, she’s a single mother of 2 children and learned English after immigrating here as an adult. By all accounts, she’s overcome a lot.
We got to work immediately and registered her for home buyer assistance with the experts at a reputable Community Based Organization (CBO) in the City. Not too long afterward, we sat through a 2-hour onboarding (with me there to explain anything that would be challenging to process from a language perspective). She brought most of the required documents requested by the CBO almost immediately after the training. We were on a roll. Imagine the heartbreak we both felt a few weeks later as she informed me that she no longer wanted to proceed with the process.
Something had scared her. She didn’t voice it, but I had sensed her hesitation increase as we progressed. Here’s what I gleaned from that experience:
1. There was no culturally sensitive information in the training, no request for translation, nothing, and when they did ask, it was after the onboarding.
- A note to potential buyers: feel empowered to request a transfer for all meetings and webinars, as well as translated documents.
- A note to CBOs and the City: can we include translation services, including documents, as part of our standard operating procedures to offer translation prior to any engagement.
2. She had a housing voucher she thought she could use, but this option was never mentioned during the process.
- A note to potential buyers: feel empowered to request both verbally and in writing to use your voucher to purchase a home. If your lender or counselor does not know, feel empowered to stop the process and find people who are willing to help.
- A note to CBOs and the City: how can we codify the process to purchase homes using a housing voucher and ensure that it is easily accessible online and/or printed, if it doesn’t exist?
3. The onboarding and subsequent conversations laid out minimum saving requirements and documents required. She didn’t earn much and needed the flexibility to move money around to help her family abroad and meet her responsibilities at home. I could tell she was uncomfortable with me or anyone prying into her finances and telling her how to budget.
- A note to potential buyers: what can advocates, nonprofits in your community do to make this process easier for you. Please reach out and let us know.
- A note to CBOs and the City: In some cultures it is taboo to even talk about money, much less show someone your bank account. How can we be more sensitive to the unsettling feelings associated with having someone comb through your personal information?
I’ve said this before (because I believe it): we are fortunate, in D.C., to have a system that provides generous help to people who want to purchase homes. But, it only functions for some. A college graduate with maybe a year or two of solid work experience could easily fly through the path the CBO laid out for Lucy. But, it would require much more for a non-native English speaker or a single mother on a tight budget, etc. I’m not advocating that we put away the checks that enable the system to function. I am saying that there are better ways, like those listed above, to help ease more ‘Lucys; into homeownership so that they don’t quit before they really get started.
Immigrants, and women of color are strong, but we must keep in mind that they are also historically marginalized groups, a status which persists today. From health to income, women of color sustained some of the most significant setbacks during the pandemic. If we want more Lucys to access homeownership, we must ensure that our systems will benefit them as much as they benefit everyone else. That is equity. All of us- future homebuyers, CBOs, government officials, community advocates- can do this by answering the questions above.
Check out the City’s list of Community Based Organizations (CBOs) to learn how you can apply for down payment assistance. In a few months, we will also be sharing some of our tools that help more Lucys to buy their own homes!
May 2024 be a year of more equity and dignity for all of us.
