Nahjee Maybin feels fortunate to be fulfilling the American dream of graduating college, landing employment and saving enough money to buy a first home for his family — particularly when he considers the myriad ways government and society historically hindered Black Americans’ home ownership prospects.
The U.S. homeownership rate has inched upward over the past decade, from 64.7% of homes occupied by their owners in 2011 to 65.5% in 2021, according to the National Association of Realtors. But Black homeownership rates have lagged significantly behind. Colorado’s white homeownership rate sits around 70% compared to a 42% Black homeownership rate, according to a March report from the National Association of Realtors.
Racist policies like redlining across the nation and in Colorado created generational barriers to homebuying for Black families with ripple effects that still exist today. Redlining is a discriminatory practice dating to the 1930s in which federal programs providing government-insured mortgages for homeowners shirked giving aid in neighborhoods where property values were most likely to decrease — largely low-income areas where people of color lived.
“It’s crazy to see how many things have allowed that gap to increase,” Maybin said. “It wasn’t even that long ago when this was happening, and I think a lot of people still aren’t aware.”
The 31-year-old and his wife, who have three children, were able to buy a home in Aurora with the help of two Denver-area programs: the Dearfield Fund for Black Wealth and FirstBank’s Providing Access to Homeownership fund. Both programs offer Black first-time homebuyers in Colorado thousands of dollars in down-payment assistance in an effort to help correct the equity gaps that hinder Black homeownership.
White households hold 87% of overall wealth in the United States while accounting for 68% of the nation’s households, according to Federal Reserve data. Comparatively, Black households hold 3% of the country’s wealth while accounting for 16% of the U.S. population.
“We know that’s due, in part, to historic housing discrimination, particularly redlining and the ramifications that have resulted as a result of federal housing policy that prevented Black and African American families from amassing wealth and being able to transfer it to the next generation,” said Aisha T. Weeks, managing director of the Denver-based Dearfield Fund.
“The system was never designed for us to be successful, so understanding how to navigate that world is so critically important to the successful building of wealth over time,” she said, “so we’re lifting the veil.”
“We’ll build our own”
A month ago, Lakewood-based FirstBank received a $1 million grant from the Colorado Health Foundation to continue funding its 2-year-old Providing Access to Homeownership, or PATH, grant program.
FirstBank, in partnership with the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority and the Impact Development Fund, created the PATH grant program to help cover down payment and closing costs for Black first-time homebuyers in the state with no expectation of repayment.
The bank and the state Housing and Finance Authority have given more than $2.6 million to fund the grants, propelling 160 Black families into their first homes. The $1 million grant from the Colorado Health Foundation is expected to help welcome another 100 Black families into their new homes.
Greg Shields, senior vice president at FirstBank, works with PATH clients as a lender. As a Black man in the banking industry, Shields said working with PATH recipients has been the highlight of his career.
“It’s one thing to do an investment property for someone with five or six homes, but when you get someone with their first home and seeing that level of pride and excitement, it makes my job worth coming to,” Shields said.
People in the program still have to qualify for the loan, but when they do, PATH kicks in a $10,000 grant toward the homebuyers’ down payment.
To qualify, Black or African American recipients must be first-time homebuyers — although exceptions exist if the home isn’t the buyers’ first — for a property that will be their primary residence with a mortgage through FirstBank.
From Shields’ years of experience in lending, he said it’s evident that barriers like redlining and gentrification still have lingering impacts on his clients. Because generations of families often have been hamstrung by these systemic restrictions, sometimes clients come to Shields with a lack of financial literacy, misconceptions about the homebuying industry or distrust after hearing about or directly experiencing racism in the industry.
Coloradans may not see many advertisements for the program, Shields said, because it spreads through word-of-mouth among networks of Black real estate agents, lenders, former recipients and their allies.
“Have I dealt with racism? Yes.”
About 70% of April Denmon’s real estate clients are Black.
“I will always fight for us, and I will always tell people if we’re not welcome at their table, we’ll build our own,” Denmon said.
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The real estate broker earned herself the nickname “Bulldog Denmon” among her clients because she said that, after 22 years in the business, she has experienced enough racism to make her a fierce advocate for her buyers.
When she first started in the business and was interested in selling downtown, Denmon said, white real estate agents told her to go back to Green Valley Ranch where she belonged.
A few weeks ago, Denmon said an appraisal for a house she was selling came in $40,000 below the contract price.
“I fought the appraiser, bank, lender and we got a new appraisal order,” Denmon said. “I said, ‘No, I feel like this is because my clients are Black and we got another appraisal, and the new appraisal came in $41,000 higher (than the first appraisal). Have I dealt with racism? Yes. That’s why I fight so hard for my clients.”
Denmon also teaches monthly homebuying classes, during which she educates people on programs, resources and financial tips that can help them become successful buyers. She has worked with FirstBank and the Dearfield Fund frequently to make her clients’ dreams come to fruition.
The Dearfield Fund has served 155 families since July 2021 by deploying $5.7 million toward Black homebuyers.
Dearfield is primarily funded by institutional investors such as Gates Family Foundation and Gary Community Ventures, Weeks said. Eligible people can apply for a conventional loan with a Dearfield-approved lender, receive up to $40,000 from the Dearfield Fund for a down payment or closing costs, and then pay back the original amount of down-payment assistance plus 5% of the home’s appreciated value once the buyer sells or refinances.
“We anticipate each Dearfield family will generate at least $100,000 in net worth through their homeownership journey with us, and considering the number of households we seek to help, we anticipate that will generate $75 million to $100 million in total net worth for the Black community in the Denver metro area,” Weeks said.
“A huge accomplishment”
Dekia Richard, 33, was desperate to upgrade from the one-bedroom Aurora apartment she shared with her toddler a few years ago. In addition to the cramped quarters of sharing a bed with her child, Richard said she was tired of her son listening to domestic disputes through the apartment’s thin walls.
The single mother started investigating homeownership in 2021 but wasn’t sure if it would be possible for her. Through word-of-mouth, Richard found a Black real estate agent who helped connect her with FirstBank’s PATH program and the Dearfield Fund.
Finding a property was an arduous process as Richard continued to get outbid, but about a year ago, she stumbled onto a two-bedroom condo in Aurora, and everything fell into place.
The funding programs provided Richard with $50,000, which allowed her to seal the deal on the new home for her and her son.
“That was major, major, major in me being able to purchase,” Richard said. “As a Black woman and one of the first in my generation of family who does own at this point, it’s a huge accomplishment. I want to show my son that there’s more and hopefully have him on the track of when he’s ready to move out that he’ll be moving into a house.”
Homeowner Maybin said now that he’s in on the ground floor of wealth-building, he can focus on continuing to set his family up for success. He plans to start investing money, looking into acquiring more properties and saving for his children’s college funds.
Maybin said it’s nice to put down roots somewhere after growing up as a military brat hopping around the globe.
“I know some people view these programs as negatives, but programs like this are literally how the country has been built,” Maybin said. “Everything from the GI Bill that really helped propel middle-class America, but only certain people were able to take part. As long as the least fortunate or most disadvantaged are being helped, it makes the whole ecosystem of our communities and country and states and cities better.”
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