In 2007, the same issue that HAT is currently focused on in DC of rising condo fees facing affordable owners who were integrated into market-rate buildings became a concern in San Francisco. This article highlights affordable owners dealing with doubling condo fees and enormous special assessments that the City did not foresee and could not regulate once the condo associations took control of various buildings. These fees were making the units unaffordable for the affordable owners (who were no more than 15% of the buildings), while the market-rate owners could more easily deal with and were more likely to support the increases. The author highlights the need for the City of San Francisco to set up a fund to help pay for the condo fees, support only all-affordable projects where fee increases like this would not take place, or devise more careful plans to truly integrate affordable owners into luxury condo buildings (though the author doubts this is possible). Stay tuned for ways you can advocate for solutions for current affordable condo owners dealing with these issues in DC!

An area in San Francisco where affordable units/owners were integrated into market-rate condo buildings.

Though homeownership is not for everyone, for those who are interested in and ready for it, now may be a good time to buy in the District. This Washington Post article highlights that for many young professionals in the City, purchasing a home is a cheaper option than renting. Rental prices have gone up 3.7% each year since 2006, and the fair market price for a 2-bedroom apartment is in the $1400s. With low mortgage rates (below 4% on a 30-year fixed mortgage) and more stable housing prices, now is also the time for low and moderate-income people/families to become homeowners. HPAP, the City’s homegrown downpayment assistance program for first-time, lower-income homebuyers, is in place along with excellent homebuyer education. Such programs are the City’s best investment as the buyer ends up paying the money back and people have an opportunity to build wealth and stability through owning their own home. Now may be the time to buy…

According to a new report by the US Census Bureau, the homeownership rate in Washington, DC increased 10.7% between 2001 and 2010. However, DC still has the third lowest homeownership rate (42%) of all US cities, behind New York and Los Angeles. One of the reasons for the low rate is the transient nature of some of DC’s population, but the more prominent reason is the high cost of homes and condos in DC. When looking at African American residents in DC, the homeownership rate is even lower at 38.8%.

For many, the foreclosure crisis has been pinned on uniformed minority and low-income borrowers as well as policies that support them in becoming homeowners. This myth has led some to consider low-income buyers as not ready for homeownership, as part of the problem rather than the solution.

A recent groundbreaking study by Maurice Jordain-Earl of ComplianceTech researches the demographics of the subprime fiaso and reveals that upper-income borrowers across all racial groups had the largest number of subprime rate loans, followed by middle-income borrowers from all racial groups. The study concludes that the meltdown “is better described as a mainstream white suburbia problem with aspects that affect minorities and urban communities. Erroneous assumptions about the demographics of subprime rate lending will only lead to poor decisions that result in ineffective solutions.”

Manna’s and others experiences have been that low down payments, 30 year-fixed rate loans and financial education/counseling have proven to be the key ingredients for making low-income home buyers successful, even through the foreclosure crisis. And homeownership has been a legitimate and important way for these responsible buyers and their families to build assets and move up the economic ladder. Low-income buyers are and can be part of the answer to the crisis we are in.

There has always and continues to be a wealth gap between whites and minority groups in the United States. According to a recent Pew Research Center study, the median wealth of white households is 20 times that of black households and 18 times that of Hispanic households. Though the gap has significantly widened in recent years, this gap also has deep roots in the history of the United States, including discriminatory policies and practices that limited the traditional way Americans have increased their wealth: Homeownership.

For a history of homeownership and race in the United States, see the below segment of the documentary “Race – The Power of An Illusion”: