After renting for the majority of her adult life, Tonia Macklin recently became a homeowner for the first time. The native of southeast Houston achieved this goal with the assistance of the Harris County Homeownership Collaborative’s Own the HOU initiative, a multiorganization effort that seeks to bridge the racial homeownership gap impacting people of color.

“The biggest difference has been feeling a sense of freedom,” Macklin said. “The main advantage is when something needs to be done you can get it done yourself, without having to wait on someone else to do it.”

Macklin’s sentiment aligns with a key finding from the Kinder Institute’s 2024 State of Housing in Harris County and Houston report, where more than 75% of respondents said homeownership represented freedom.

The leading agency for Own the HOU is Houston’s Local Initiatives Support Corporation. Additional partners include the Houston Housing and Community Development Department, Fifth Ward Community Redevelopment Corporation, Houston Community Land Trust and the Harris County Community Services Department. The initiative defines people of color as members of the Black, Hispanic, Indigenous, and Asian communities.

Own the HOU is funded through the Wealth Opportunities Realized Through Homeownership (WORTH) grant program, which the Wells Fargo Foundation began in 2022. The WORTH program also has similar projects to bridge the racial homeownership gap in Atlanta, Milwaukee, New York City, Philadelphia, San Diego, and Richmond, Virginia.

How Own the HOU Has Been Successful in Bridging the Racial Homeownership Gap

Thus far, the Houston market has been the most successful in terms of bridging the racial homeownership gap, with about 2,300 new households created and over 260 homes preserved, according to Laura Jaramillo, executive director of the Houston office of Local Initiatives Support Corporation.

“Each of our partners are leading the way through different strategies,” Jaramillo said. “Many people think of it as a down payment program or homebuyer counseling. That’s only part of it. It’s also about outreach and an education campaign, and subtopics to that.”

As a part of bridging the racial homeownership gap, Own the HOU also seeks to reach people who are interested in homeownership but do not know the pathways to achieving it. Member organizations have analyzed mortgage denial rates in the area, and have explored methods to reduce construction costs and expand housing typologies. Additional long-term aspirations include policy areas such as increasing the minimum wage and taking advantage of alternative credit scores to address systemic barriers.

Read the full article about the racial homeownership gap by John Brannen at Kinder Institute for Urban Research.