Reaching Out to New Immigrants to Create Home Ownership

By Marcia B. Vacela
Illustration by Thomas Broad

Excerpted from Winter 2002/2003 bright ideas

In New York in early 2001, Neighborhood Housing Services of New York City, along with three other partners, conducted a six-hour homebuyer and credit orientation in Spanish for members of faith-based organizations. Five hundred thirty people attended, 90 percent of whom wanted credit and debt management and financial tips.

That is just one illustration of the demand among immigrants for financial literacy information and a culturally appropriate response by a local NeighborWorks® organization. The same scene, with only slight variations, could be repeated with other immigrant populations in other NeighborWorks® communities all across the country. We also offer homebuyer classes in Haitian-Creole, for example, in addition to English and Spanish.

The reasons are that new immigrants are one of the fastest-growing segments of the homebuying market, and community-based development organizations and the lending community are scrambling to develop new strategies and products to address their unique housing needs.

Read the article. [PDF, 72KB]

Illustration on homepage by Thomas Broad.