The Urban League of San Diego County is the local chapter of a civil rights organization with decades of history in serving minority communities in the county.
“The organization has a five-pillar mission. Those pillars are housing, education, workforce, advocacy and health and wellness,” President and CEO Al Abdallah said.
One of those key pillars is housing.
“The goal was to create first time homebuyers’ generational wealth in the Black community. In the span of two years, we have spread our breadth of coverage there and we are expanding into other communities of color like the Latino community and the Native American community and Asian community,” Abdallah said.
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The program has created 81 first-time homebuyers since August of 2021, according to Abdallah.
The Black American homeownership rate is 44%, the Hispanic American homeownership rate is 50.1%, The Asian-American homeownership rate is at 62.8% nationwide, which all lags behind the homeownership rate of 72.7% by White Americans, according to the National Association of Realtors.
Saving for the down-payment to purchase a home is currently the biggest hurdle to achieving the goal of homeownership for many people that have used the program, according to Abdallah.
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He explained that generational wealth is important.
“You can use that generational wealth and equity to finance college education, to get out of debt and any number of things,” Abdullah said.
The Urban League partners with local organizations and lenders for the program.
“It’s not just the Urban League. We’re talking San Diego Foundation, LISC, the Local Initiative Support Corporation, they’re the fiscal agent for the program. We have three primary lenders. BMO, U.S. Bank and First Citizens Bank. So, you come through the Urban League we are the HUD certified counseling lead agency. We prep these clients and when they’re ready to go they’re handed off to one of those three lenders,” Abdallah said.
People interested in the program can not exceed 150% of the AMI (Area Median Income) of San Diego, which is about $206,000 per year.
The mission of helping homebuyers achieve their goal continues, and the Urban League plans to be a facilitator for many families, according to Abdallah.
