ASSETS/INVESTMENT ...investing in strong communities
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NCLR’s work in the area of assets/investment is carried out through the NCLR Homeownership Network (NHN) and community development efforts in conjunction with the Raza Development Fund (RDF). Currently, 35 community-based housing counseling organizations are members of NHN. That number is expected to increase to 45 organizations in 2003. This program is a partnership between NCLR and several investors including the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Freddie Mac Corporation, and Fannie Mae Corporation, and several private mortgage lenders such as Wells Fargo Mortgage. In the area of community development, NCLR provides technical assistance on real estate projects to affiliates and originates RDF loan requests.
H I G H LI G H TS ■ During FY 2002, NHN supported 29 counseling organizations to provide homeownership services to 20,372 families and assisted 2,689 families to become homeowners. ■ In partnership with Freddie Mac, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and US Bank, NCLR launched En Su Casa. This initiative will raise the Latino homeownership rate through demystifying the homebuying process and increasing the numbers of families served by counseling organizations by integrating database and Internet technologies into program operations. In addition, the initiative focuses on integrating private lenders into a cost-effective system to serve the low- to moderate-income market. ■ NCLR, through NHN, and Fannie Mae entered into a partnership to address the housing needs of certain targeted Hispanic populations in underserved communities served by designated NHN affiliates. This partnership also seeks to identify new organizations that would be effective in identifying Latino homebuyers.
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National Council of La Raza
■ The Community Development Program provided assistance to affiliates in obtaining financing for a total to date of 67 projects from NCLR’s Hope Fund. The total loan amount to date is $21,780,291. An overview of the product mix of loans approved demonstrates that 25% of the approved loans have been for housing projects, 40% for community facilities, 10% for acquisitions of lines of credit, and 25% for operation lines of credit. The geographic mix of approved loans is as follows: 24% of the loans are in California, 9% are in the Northwest, 22% are in the Far West, 10% are in Texas, 19% in the Midwest, and 14% of the loans are in the East Coast region.