(Photo by Adam Carr)
The Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service is co-sponsoring “Locked Out: Solutions to the Black Homeownership Decline” from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 26 at the Wisconsin Black Historical Society/Museum, 2620 W. Center St. In Milwaukee.
Hosted by ACTS Housing, the program will feature Adam Carr, deputy editor for community engagement at the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service; Danell Cross, executive director, Metcalfe Park Community Bridges; William Tisdale, president and CEO, Metropolitan Milwaukee Fair Housing Council; and moderator Dorothy York, associate director, ACTS Housing.
Nationwide, black homeownership declined to 41.7 percent in 2016, nearly a 50-year low, according to the National Association of Real Estate Brokers, an industry trade group.
Since homeownership is considered among the best ways to build wealth, experts are concerned about the impact the downward trend can have on the retirement plans for African Americans and other minority groups.
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This is so accurate. I’ve been in the real estate field for 18 years and mostly as a community lender, I’ve seen first hand the downward spiral of minority homeownership. A lot of it is due to the accessibility of the knowledge it takes to get a home. There are so many more barriers created for poor people of color to obtain a home,so we get frustrated and give up on our dream because the process is too hard. We have to level the lending field.