DREAM EQUITY BY MELANIE ROBITAILLE, SR. STAFF WRITER & GRAPHIC DESIGNER & SUSAN HARRISON, SR. VICE PRESIDENT “I have a dream,” Martin Luther King Jr. passionately exclaimed that fateful summer in Washington, D.C. in 1963. It would take another five years before the government would enact the Fair Housing Act to ensure equity for all those in search of homeownership, but unfortunately to this day the struggle is still very real for many cultural minorities and those in the LGBTQ+ community. According to Financial Journalist, Farnoosh Torabi, in a video as part of her Closing the Gap column for NextAdvisor in partnership with TIME, “The homeownership gap between black and white Americans has only widened since the days when racial discrimination in housing was legal. The difference in ownership today stands at over 30% in the U.S.” The LGBTQ+ Real Estate Alliance reports similar disturbing statistics on their website which states, “Although LGBTQ+ people are protected in some states and municipalities, federal fair housing laws do not include sexual orientation or gender identity as protected classes. This allows legal discrimination in 27 states which can cause barriers to homeownership, obtaining a loan, renting, and more.” BEING PART OF THE SOLUTION A self-confessed independent and passionate person, with dreams to lobby at the local or state political level one day, Sales Representative, Laurascott Barfield grew up in a real estate family that taught her to be a forward thinker, when that wasn’t a popular concept. She has been involved with the LGBTQIA+ community for over 15 years, however after witnessing the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020, she knew she wanted to do more. “We’re all Americans who deserve to be a part of the ‘American Dream,’ and a big part of that dream is building generational wealth.
“We’re all Americans who deserve to be a part of the ‘American Dream’.” L AURASCOT T BARFIELD SALES REP.
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