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• 1 2022-12-02T06:48:26-08:00 Home is Where the Heart is 11 plain 2022-12-09T09:35:58-08:00      In Erie County, OH, host to my hometown of Sandusky, OH., African Americans, and White-African American multi-race residents make up 11.3% of the population, yet they only make up 2.9% of owner-occupied homeowners and comprise 20% of renters. Understanding that 91% of the African Americans that live in Erie County live in Sandusky, we have a great opportunity as City government to impact Black wealth accumulation locally. My community of Sandusky, OH has 21.1% of its residents living in poverty. Of those living in poverty, 66% are people of color (U.S. Census, 2020). How could access to affordable, owner-occupied housing help reduce that number? Investing our resources in a Community Development Corporation (CDC), or housing co-ops could help make housing more affordable, and still allow for some level of home equity.
  
       CDCs are non-profit organizations whose focus is on community asset building at a grass roots level. The primary tool utilized in this case would be housing development and management, with some elements of economic development, social services, workforce training and financial literacy services (Smith, 2003). CDCs partner with county, and city land banks, to purchase distressed multi- and single-family properties and rehabilitate them for sale or rental. These nonprofits utilize financing from tradition lenders and have access to Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) that specialize in lending in high-risk areas and communities impacted by discriminatory practices of the past.
  
  
  
       A housing co-operative, or co-op, is a housing unit that is owned and controlled jointly by a group of people who have equal shares, and occupancy rights to the housing. A co-op as a legal entity that has its own board of directors, and each resident is a shareholder. A co-op shareholder does not "own" their respective unit, they own shares proportional to the size, desirability, and amenities of the unit. They come in three forms. Market rate, meaning shareholders can sell their shares for whatever they want, to whomever they want. Limited equity, which puts a limit on how much equity shareholders can earn on their homes so that they cannot sell them for large profits. This type is usually geared towards affordable housing. The last is group equity co-ops, which members do not accrue equity in their homes, but they pay below market rental rates. Below is a video describing housing co-ops in Canada.