After moving to Detroit, Michigan, Diana Franco and her family rented a home. “It was a nightmare,” she says. They moved to a new street, but still felt unsafe. When she discovered the Newberry neighborhood, she thought, “I wish we could rent here.” Homeownership was not on her mind.

But when she saw a construction worker outside a home in that neighborhood, he gave her the phone number for MiSide, a NeighborWorks network organization that had been refurbishing homes in a place where renters didn’t think homeownership was in their future.

Franco took the required courses through MiSide, and her family was approved for a home – not to rent it but to buy it. There was a lot about homeownership she learned from MiSide, Franco says. The biggest thing: “There are programs out there that can help you.”

MiSide, a member of NeighborWorks America’s Accelerating Homeownership for People of Color cohort, supported by Fifth Third Bank, has long provided those programs. The organization had purchased 60 single-family homes that had been financed through tax credits. Those credits were expiring, which meant MiSide could sell them to the current renters – or to a LMI individual if there was no longer a tenant in the home  – using a new loan product the organization developed. No one in the Detroit neighborhood had taken out a mortgage to buy a home in 20 years, but MiSide had a vision where homeownership was possible. It’s a vision that NeighborWorks America shares, and has shared since its inception.

On paper, a majority of the tenants in the neighborhood weren’t obvious clients for traditional lenders. Their credit scores were lower than what a traditional bank usually looked for. And they’d accumulated more debt. But MiSide saw signs that made them a good financial risk. One of those signs?

“They paid their rent,” says Alex Makohn, director of homeownership assistance programs. “On time, every month. That shows they understand the importance of making a payment. They understand making a budget.” Of the 60 homes MiSide purchased, 52 have been converted from rentals to homeownership.

“Since we’ve been part of the Accelerating Homeownership cohort, we’ve recognized the importance of post-purchase counseling,” Makohn says. “We’re continuing our relationship after the home is purchased. We talk about property taxes and home maintenance.” The goal, she says, is to ensure that homeowners will continue to be successful over time.

For years, NeighborWorks has been fighting to close the homeownership gap – a gap that sees 44% of Black Americans owning their own homes, compared to 73% of white Americans. The wealth gap echoes this trend: According to Brookings, for every $100 in wealth held by white households, Black households hold only $15.

From 2021 to 2023 NeighborWorks and the network impacted 45,751 clients (preserved and created) of color and created 31,579 new homeowners of color. In 2023, of the 16,269 new homeowners created, 21% were Black or African American and another 32% were Hispanic or Latino.

“Year over year, we are seeing the network’s share of Black and Latino homeowners holding steady,” says Michael Butchko, vice president of Business Intelligence, Corporate Strategy & Impact. “This speaks to the outreach that our organizations do, and the trust communities have in their organizations to be consistent providers of reliable information to help them achieve and sustain homeownership.”

New homeowners included a mother of two in Missouri, who went from struggling with rent to receiving assistance and financial coaching,  finally closing on a new home of her own. It included a family in Baltimore, who increased their savings and credit profile and met their goal in September, moving into a new, safe home for their children.

The fight to close the gap is an uphill battle, Melton admits. “The network does a great job layering down payment assistance and putting people in contact with affordable loans. But for every drop of water put in tub, there’s water coming out the bottom.”

Still, she believes that the programs at the center of the cohort are making a difference. Three years of supporting and replicating equitable programs does not reverse racial inequities that have existed for hundreds of years, of course. “But we’re making inroads with the programs we have,” she says. “The goal was for the network to engage with each other and share replicable models and strategies. We did that. We also want to be a thought-leader nationally. We want to share these programs beyond the network; we want to share with the industry.”

Meanwhile, programs like this are making a difference to Franco, who finally feels at home in Detroit. Her son walks to school. She greets her neighbors.

“We know each other and look out for each other. I’m happy here.”