STATE FARM AGENT DANIELLE HOWARD, far right, among the participants of the Homeownership Forum held, Feb. 4, at Petra International Ministries in East Hills. (Photo by J.L. Martello)
Homeownership is very important for Pittsburgh’s Black community
If you’re Black, living in the Pittsburgh region and do not own a home, you’re far from alone.
The online lending marketplace LendingTree in February released the results of a study it conducted on Black homeownership across the U.S., and found that Blacks in the Pittsburgh region, who make up 7.5 percent of the population, own less than four percent of all the homes.
The study comes on the heels of a 2022 report by the Pittsburgh Community Reinvestment Group, which found that African American homeownership within city limits was at 31.4 percent in 2019. In other words, almost 70 percent of Blacks living within Pittsburgh are not homeowners, and it’s even worse across the multi-county region.
Even before the LendingTree report was released, a collaboration between the Pittsburgh alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., Petra International Ministries and Monique Winston of MWINS Consulting resulted in a highly-attended Black Homeownership Forum, Feb. 4, at Petra International Ministries in East Hills.
MONIQUE WINSTON OF MWINS CONSULTING (PHOTOS BY J.L. MARTELLO)
“African Americans are the lowest percentage wise when it comes to homeownership and it hasn’t changed much since the ‘60s,” Winston said at the event. “Our goal is to help change the trajectory of Black homeownership.”
Nationwide, the gap between White and Black homeownership rates is wider today than it was in 1960. The Pew Charitable Trust reported a 27 point gap in 1960, compared to a 29 percent gap now.
“There is a huge connection between homeownership and economic wealth-building,” Winston said. “A lot of people think, just buy a house for the sake of buying a house…They don’t realize that for African Americans, the largest percent of our net worth comes from the equity of our home. I’m not saying this is the only way to build generational wealth, but for us as a demographic, homeownership always makes up the largest component of our net worth.”
The 200 people in attendance—primarily Black women—heard firsthand stories on how an individual progressed to become a homeowner, step by step. The attendees broke into smaller groups to get information from banks like First National Bank to hear about their programs for first-time homebuyers. The attendees heard about the different obstacles to becoming a homeowner, while learning how to overcome those obstacles.
HELEN BOWERS, PRESIDENT, PITTSBURGH ALUMNAE CHAPTER OF DELTA SIGMA THETA SORORITY INC.
“It’s not difficult to purchase a home,” said Helen Bowers, president of the Pittsburgh alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., in an exclusive interview with the New Pittsburgh Courier. “You have to have the mindset, understand what the responsibility is in owning a home. It’s not hard to do, it just takes more of a thought process.”
The recurring theme during the forum on the first steps to homeownership was for people to get their finances in order. Experts always discuss that a person should have an emergency fund large enough to pay their bills for six months in case they experience a job loss. But when saving for a home, it adds thousands of dollars to the savings game, usually in a different category than the “emergency fund.” Many African Americans have a hard enough time with the emergency fund, let alone the typical 10 or 20 percent down payment for a home. However, there are a number of programs through the Federal Housing Administration that allow for first-time homebuyers to be able to put 3.5 percent down on a home.
In addition to a person’s finances, Bowers told the Courier there’s another aspect to homeownership—a person’s credit score. “We cannot share our credit score. That’s personal to ourselves and we need to hold it tight so that no one else affects it. It takes a lot to rebuild your credit,” Bowers said.
It’s not uncommon for people to co-sign for a friend, relative, etc., for the purchase of a car or to obtain an apartment. But Bowers warned that it’s not wise to put oneself in a position where another person can hurt your credit. The higher a person’s credit score, the more likely they are to be approved for a home loan, and get a lower interest rate.
For Winston, who lived in Pittsburgh for 17 years but now resides in Houston, she just wants Black Pittsburghers to start thinking about being a homeowner. “It’s never an if, it’s just when,” she said. “Maybe you can’t do it for six months, two years, five years; let’s just start thinking about how we can get on the track to start that.”
Winston added: “That first home doesn’t have to be your last home. You can leverage that to get your second, third home. I personally know people who, through the equity of their home, they’ve started their business, they’ve put their kids through college.”
Another barrier to homeownership for African Americans in Pittsburgh and across the country is the lack of a two-parent household with two incomes. Studies, as well as common sense, show that having two incomes from two parents coming into a household increases the chances of being able to save for a down payment on a home. But in Allegheny County, 56 percent of the Black families are headed by a single mother, compared to under 20 percent for White families. Focus exclusively on Pittsburgh, and the percentage of families headed by a single Black mother ups to nearly 70 percent.
Pittsburgh-based First National Bank, the platinum sponsor of the Homeownership Forum, discussed its “FNB Homeownership Plus,” a new mortgage loan designed to remove some financial barriers to homebuying. It features down payments as low as zero percent and access to up to $5,000 through the bank’s closing cost assistance grant. The program features flexible qualification standards and takes into account rent or utility payments into consideration if a homebuyer doesn’t have a sufficient credit score or history.
Other banks in the region, such as Dollar Bank, have programs that assist first-time homebuyers, many of whom are African Americans.
“I feel like homeownership, especially within the Black community, is something that needs to be taken more seriously,” said Tamiah Barrett, a licensed real estate agent in the Pittsburgh area. “Not a lot of people feel like they can afford a home or there are stipulations to where they just cannot get to that next level.”
But for Barrett, it was pleasing to see the number of African Americans who were at Petra International Ministries to learn about attaining that elusive first home.
For local resident Muriel Fox Alim, she came to the Homeownership Forum to pass the information she learned on to her children. She told the Courier she bought a house on her own, “so that I can leave something for my children. I recognize the importance of property ownership and generational wealth.”
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