Advancing Innovative Homeownership Financing Solutions – Growing Household Wealth

Background

The Chicago Community Trust is committed to closing the racial and ethnic wealth gap and increasing the share of economic prosperity for Black and Latinx individuals, households, and communities in the Chicago region. One of the key ways the Trust addresses the wealth gap is by advancing homeownership in communities of color. Research shows homeownership is the single largest source of household wealth among Black and Latinx residents in the Chicago region, anchoring families to long-term economic security and generational wealth. Yet the homeownership gap continues to persist, with 68 percent of white households owning homes in Chicago compared to 52 percent of Latinx households and 41 percent of Black households. One key factor driving the ownership gap is the lack of safe, flexible, and affordable capital readily available to Black and Latinx homebuyers and homeowners.

Need/Opportunity Statement

An examination of mortgage lending in Chicago displays another layer of disparity across both income level and race. A recent study by Urban Institute, commissioned by the Trust, noted that while Black Chicagoans account for 22 percent of the city’s homeowners, they only receive 14.5 percent of purchase mortgage lending. A closer examination of why capital is not as available to Black and Latinx Chicagoans reveals the imbalance is more of a systems issue as opposed to a product issue. Recently, the Trust also commissioned research conducted by New America’s Future of Land and Housing on the types of capital available for advancing affordable homeownership. The report specifically highlighted three barriers to financing homeownership for low to moderate income households: affordability; access to credit; and lack of information. To uplift innovative solutions to the barriers preventing Black and Latinx households from achieving and benefiting from homeownership, the Trust also commissioned a comprehensive scan of capital that demonstrates ways lenders can flexibly examine the creditworthiness of borrowers and use creative loan structures to distribute capital at scale.

Many of the products in the scan illustrate that alternative financing models are empowered by strategic partnerships among diverse actors. This funding opportunity is a response to the need to provide products that give buyers and homeowners flexible capital suited for their unique needs.

Goals & Outcomes

This funding program advances the Trust’s 10-year goal to increase the growth of wealth of Black and Latinx households relative to white households. It also advances the Growing Household Wealth goals to:

• Expand Partnership Opportunities
• Increase Investment Opportunities
• Improve Overall Financial Health

Priority Strategies & Activities

This funding program calls for collaborative proposals that involve the work of three organizations working to increase access to safe and affordable financing for homebuyers and homeowners. The collaborative partnership should be comprised of a lender and housing counseling organizations so that the work of matching buyers to capital is ensured. Each partner must demonstrate specific skill sets that help to build financial solutions and wrap-around services.

Grants awarded will cover the planning and design of the financial solution. Grant funding may be used to support the organization’s capacity to develop and implement programs that creatively increase visibility and access to products and programs.

Contact

For technical questions about your GrantCentral application, please contact our grants management staff at grants@cct.org.

For questions about this funding opportunity, please contact Shandra D. Richardson at srichardson@cct.org.

How to Apply

The Trust awards grants to organizations whose work is consistent with our mission and our current priorities. Learn about the application process and eligibility.

How to Apply

What We Fund

Our grants are not just checks, not just points on a map. Our grants are lifelines, connecting individual donors with people and families striving for a better life.

What We Fund