Georgetown Law’s IIEL Focuses on the Black Homeownership Gap
June 26, 2024
During the virtual event, Professor Chris Brummer moderated a fireside chat with Adrianne Todman, Acting Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and Sandra Thompson, Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency
On June 18, Georgetown Law’s Institute of International Economic Law (IIEL) partnered with the National Bankers Association (NBA), an organization representing minority-owned financial institutions, and with the Visa Economic Empowerment Institute (VEEI) on “The Black Homeownership Gap and the Social Impact of MDIs,” an event exploring longstanding challenges Black Americans face in purchasing homes and ways policymakers and the financial sector are attempting to narrow the home ownership gap.
The virtual event included opening remarks by Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.), a member of the House Committee on Financial Services; a presentation of findings from two new research studies: VEEI’s Minority Depository Institutions (MDIs): Examining their support for low-income homeowners and the implications for underserved communities and VEEI/NBA’s The Social Impact of MDI Mortgage Lending; a panel discussion between Adrianne Todman, Acting Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and Sandra Thompson, Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and moderated by Professor Chris Brummer, IIEL Faculty Director; and closing remarks by Worku Gachou, head of North America Inclusive Impact & Sustainability at Visa Inc.
Framing the issue from the beginning, Cleaver said, “Home ownership is evasive for African-Americans and home ownership is critically important. It not only financially overperforms stocks and bond funds as an investment, but also provides economic security… Right now, home ownership for white households is 75%… [and] we’re at 45% for Black households… Affordable housing is the most significant problem that Americans face, but if you’re Black and brown, it is a crisis.”