Salvadoran Family Set Example for Homeownership
In the Oakland pilot, Salvadoran families showed how community support can overcome challenges. Maria Elena and Jorge was one of the first families in the Salvadoran group to purchase their home. This was a group that all had dreams of buying a home, but said it would not be possible for 10 years or so. Maria Elena and Jorge found a real estate agent/broker who spoke Spanish and helped them with the purchase, but took advantage of them. The closing cost ended up being $10,000 more that he had told them and the mortgage was 65% of their household income. Fortunately, the family had social capital and support. Jorge’s employer gave them $10,000 to help with the closing cost and with the help of family and friend, they made repairs to their home adding to its value and to the neighborhood. They were barely getting by with the mortgage payment, but the family stuck with it and figured a way out themselves. They refinanced the home a few months later and brought the mortgage to something more reasonable. After they stabilized, others from their group started to save and savings shot up tremendously. To the families, seeing someone that was a peer, in a similar situation buy a home made it seem more realistic and achievable. Slowly, other families purchased homes and now everyone in the group owns a home and it was catalyze by one family setting the example.
West Oakland Village Bottoms
In West Oakland, a grassroots effort led by an FII participant and dubbed the “Village Bottoms” is providing an extraordinary model of the intersection of economic and social asset building. The Village Bottoms is a historically African-American neighborhood of West Oakland where group members are working to create a storefront district that revives the merging of mixed-use residential and business space, and brings together culture, commerce and life. With several “anchor lots” under the control of the participating group members, FII has helped bring investment capital and technical assistance to this project. A food cooperative, art and music gallery, café, and community building are all well underway.
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