Americaʼs public and private sectors are committing to a more equitable society, one with opportunities for wealth and success regardless of race or ethnicity. To make racial equity a reality, government, corporate and civic leaders must address the wealth gap that diminishes the aspirations, hopes and dreams of families and individuals.

The need for federal action is now. Blatant, race-related barriers hamper the expansion of Black wealth in America. A typical white family has eight times the wealth of a Black family of similar stature. The median net worth for Black households is $24,000, compared with $188,000 for white families. The cycle can only be broken by improving the major driver of Black wealth — intergenerational homeownership that yields prosperity and family economic security.

The major deterrents to Black homeownership are racial bias in the mortgage lending process, the burden of student loans as well as aftereffects of natural disasters, the Great Recession, and devastation from COVID-19. Homeownership for Blacks dropped nearly 20% since 2008 and despite the contributions of the 1968 Fair Housing Act, 54 years later the homeownership gap has widened. In 1960, 38% of Blacks owned homes while white homeownership was at 65%, a 27-point gap. Last year, the nation experienced the largest homeownership spread since 1890 — 44.6% for Blacks and 74.2% for whites, a 29.6% gap.

For many Black families, one of the biggest hurdles is saving money for the down payment on a house. Their income level may qualify them for a mortgage, but they struggle to come up with the upfront costs. In passing HR 5376, the original Build Back Better Act, the House included a $10 billion down payment grant program for first- time, first-generation homebuyers. Options currently exist for down payment assistance, but most come with onerous conditions such as adding a second mortgage or stricter wage and credit score requirements, making it harder to qualify for a mortgage. As the Senate pares down HR 5376 to attract support needed for passage in reconciliation, itʼs critical that the down payment provisions remain in the bill.

Congress must target the disproportionate burden of student loans and regulators should force a consensus on how student loan debt is calculated in the mortgage approval process.

Black Americans owe an average of $25,000 more in student loan debt than their white counterparts four years after leaving college, and leave school with an average of

$52,726 in student debt. The loan payments themselves are a financial burden and Congress should provide families with some loan forgiveness. But there is also inconsistency by lenders and the secondary market in how that debt impacts mortgage approvals.

The mortgage securitization giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are now acknowledging that income-based, student loan payment plans should lower the monthly debt ratio calculations for loans. Still, it is critical that a uniform standard is created that guides the Federal Housing Administration, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Department of Veterans Affairs in calculating the debt so it is not left to the whims of individual lenders.

Both government and the private sector must confront the appraisal bias that plagues Black Americans when they sell their homes or need a valuation on new ones. In March, a Biden administration interagency task force released a report confirming the proliferation of appraisal bias — houses in Black neighborhoods are on average appraised at less than half the value of houses in predominantly white communities. It also notes that a Freddie Mac study used census data to find that 12.5% of appraisals in Black neighborhoods and 15.4 % in Latino communities resulted in values less than the actual contract prices.

What causes these results?

One issue is the lack of diversity among appraisers. The Appraisal Institute acknowledges that less than 2% of its members are Black. Another factor is the flawed nature of the appraisal appeals process. When someone feels they have been wronged by an appraisal and seek a review, less than 3% of appraisals are ever revised. While there is a growing movement to utilize technology rather than physical appraisals, that approach is also troublesome because the data entered into any program may already be biased.

Letʼs start by encouraging the appraisal industry to reach out to historically Black colleges and universities and community colleges to establish programs that can train minority students to be appraisers. A better understanding of communities of color should result in fairer valuations of property in these communities. Moreover, while the task force study is a good start, it must follow through with effective reforms for the industry.

Regulators must also review the unfair process of adjusting rates and private mortgage insurance premiums for risk even after an applicant has been approved for a loan. These loan-level price adjustments, or LLPAs, are applied unfairly to minority homebuyers, according to a comprehensive study by the Journal of Financial Economics. It found that risk-equivalent Latinx/Black borrowers pay significantly higher interest rates on GSE-securitized and FHA-insured loans and the rate differences cost minority borrowers more than $450 million yearly.

The key to understanding wealth disparities is recognizing the degree that homeownership drives Black wealth — itʼs 60% to 70% of the average Black householdʼs net worth. Thus, increasing Black homeownership is the most effective path to wealth equity.

For decades, Black families and other families of color have been victims of discrimination that has prevented them from reaping the generational benefits of home ownership. With decisive action on these issues, more Black families can enjoy the benefits of homeownership and America can take a giant step towards wealth equity.

CREDITS: American Banker/Lydia Pope

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Most powerful leadHER at NAREB

“Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams, who looks inside, awakes.” By Carl Jung

When I read this quote, I instantly thought of Lydia Pope because she is an extraordinary visionary paving the way for women and homeownership. Lydia is the national president of NAREB, Broker, Entrepreneur, Influencer, and LeadHER.

NAREB is the National Association of Real Estate Brokers. NAREB is the oldest trade organization to create an equal opportunity and civil rights advocacy for African American real estate professionals, consumers, and communities in America. NAREB was founded in 1947 and embraced all qualified real estate practitioners who are committed to achieving their vision, which is “Democracy in Housing.”

As a lender, one needs to join organizations such as NAREB that support and engage in sustainable homeownership, democracy in housing, and building generational wealth for all. This organization was pivotal in equal rights, fair housing, equal opportunity, and community development at the local, state, and federal levels. NAREB continues to champion African Americans and the underserved communities by promoting educational events, advocacy, homeownership, and leadership development. The mission drew Lydia Pope to the organization since 1998, and she is an active member.

Pope was voted the quietest student growing up in Cleveland, Ohio. Even though she had a calm demeanor, she had an inner calling and mission to make a difference in her community. She is one of 12 children, the second youngest. She received a full academic scholarship to become a broadcaster; that was her goal, but unfortunately, her father fell ill, and she had to care for him as her mother was unable to drive him to his medical treatments. Pope took it upon herself to go to a local college and work two part-time jobs to pay her way through school and assist her family financially.

Pope has a strong work ethic and determination to do what is necessary for her family and goals. She landed in real estate by accident. While in school, she was working part-time at State Farm Insurance, where in the same building, there was a real estate company on the second floor. State Farm downsized, and she was out of a job. Because she had met the broker owner of the real estate company, she went to ask for an appointment the same day she lost her job in insurance.

Because of her determination, Pope landed a job in real estate. She had no clue or experience, but was determined to learn. She enrolled in real estate school and passed her exams. In 1991, she entered her career in real estate and never looked back. She realized real estate was her real passion. Her vision and mission were to help others with the most significant investment in their lives, owning a home. Pope is currently the broker owner of two companies, E & D Realty and Investment Company Inc. and New Era Real Estate in Cleveland, Ohio, with over 27 agents in one company and 77 agents in the other. Hard work works.

She is the third women president of NAREB. She continues to break barriers by focusing on her vision and looking into her own heart. She focuses on women initiatives called WIRE, (Women In Real Estate). WIRE identified Black women as a high-potential target market group for investing in real estate, pursuing homeownership, and growing careers in real estate. The goal is to increase access to financial information and capital for Black women; increase homeownership and real estate investment for them, and develop affordable housing by and for Black women. (“5 Pillars of NAREB”).

According to the State of Housing in Black America Report, Black women applying alone are emerging as major contributors to recent rise gains in Black homeownership. In 2020, 41% of Black applicants consisted of single women. Thus, creating an opportunity for mortgage professionals to cater to this segment. The numbers speak for themselves. (Carr et al.) Black women are the leaders in homeownership rates.

Lydia set out to make a difference in her community, assisting others with the most significant investment in their lives, buying a home.

The charts compare the proportion of households headed by women versus men by race and ethnicity. Black has a higher share of owner-occupied households headed by females than any other category. (Perry)

Pope attributes women, if they are single black women with a household of children, are looking for shelter, a place to call home, and protecting their children in a safe environment as one reason. Another reason is that Black women are outpacing all segments in education. “Percentage-wise, Black women outpace white women, Latinas, Asian/Pacific Islanders, and Native Americans in this arena as well.” (Katz) That is why Pope is passionate about being a women’s voice in real estate, NAREB, her companies, and her community. She knows the power of homeownership and women.

Lydia Pope, the national president of NAREB, is making an impact in real estate and is on a mission to bring more homeownership for Blacks.

She said, “The traditional way was to be home, take care of the children, and that’s it. But as we begin to grow into a new society and find out that is important when it comes to income base, you are being treated differently because of your gender. Then we go back, and we educate ourselves so that now we have to prove to America that we can get a better education. We can make more money because we got this to substantiate for that.” Pope believes everyone should be a homeowner.

She understands hard work works and balances her career with spending her weekends focused on her family. She makes time for those she loves and opens the doors to her home on Sundays. She said, “We do Sunday dinner every Sunday unless we’re out of town or at a conference. But on Sundays, which is our favorite after church, to cook dinner every Sunday, a big dinner, where everybody comes over. So our house is open to our family and friends.”

At the core, Pope is a visionary leadHER. She set out to make a difference in her community, assisting others with the most significant investment in their lives, buying a home. From helping one client, she transformed that into a career. As her career expanded and grew, she became an active member of NAREB. Furthermore, she raised her business, and in 2006 she took over the real estate company and became CEO after being an employee for 15 years. Her vision became clear when she followed her heart into real estate. She became awake. Nothing has come easy for her, but she had created her path when her vision became clear in the process.

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CREDITS: Dr. Vanessa Montañez | National Mortgage Professional

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Even as mortgage interest rates hit record lows, fueling home-buying, Black Americans lost ground on homeownership, the gap between Black and white owners growing.

Eboni Taylor searches online for a home every day.

Taylor, 35, and her husband Andarius have been trying to buy a house in Detroit for a year. But student loan debt, the costs of living and competition with buyers who can pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash have kept their dream out of reach.

“How many times I’ve gotten my hopes up,’’ says Taylor, who’s the Michigan executive director for the advocacy group Mothering Justice.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, mortgage interest rates have plunged to their lowest levels on record, fueling home-buying.

But just as Black people disproportionately lost their health and jobs during the pandemic, they also lost more ground on homeownership. The gap between Black and white owners widened, hardening a divide that’s resulted in the typical white family having eight times the wealth of the typical Black family.

At the end of 2020, the Black homeownership rate was 44.1%, virtually the same as the 44% who owned homes during the same period in 2019, according to an analysis of Census Bureau data by the Center for American Progress. The homeownership rate for white Americans rose to 74.5% from 73.7%.

“When there’s an economic shock like we’ve seen with this pandemic, it’s often the case that Black people take two steps back while white people take two steps forward,’’ says Andre M. Perry, a senior fellow with the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program and the author of “Know Your Price: Valuing Black Lives and Property in America’s Black Cities.”

The Black homeownership rate was on going up at the start of the decade, rising to 47% in the second quarter of 2020, up from 40.6% a year earlier, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

“The different changes in homeownership rates between Black and white families show that opportunities to build wealth moved further and faster out of reach for Black families than for white families,’’ says Christian Weller, a senior fellow with the Center for American Progress, who co-wrote the analysis and is a professor of public policy at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. “Yet Black families actually need to build wealth faster than white families because they typically have a lot less to begin with.”

During much of the pandemic, the average 30-year-fixed mortgage rate hovered at 3.07%, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Mortgage rates fell to record lows more than a dozen times in 2020, and this past January the average rate dipped to 2.65%, the lowest on record, according to mortgage-finance company Freddie Mac.

But a number of factors made it harder for Black buyers to take advantage of lower borrowing costs.

Black Americans lost their jobs at a higher rate than white Americans during the pandemic, says Daryl Fairweather, chief economist for the national real estate brokerage Redfin.

White people were more likely to be able to work from home, allowing them to more easily relocate to places where they could better afford a home, Fairweather says, and were more heavily invested in a soaring stock market.

“Wealth creation was concentrated among people who had the wealth to begin with, and again that’s going to skew more white than Black,” Fairweather says.

Before the coronavirus hit, “The Black employment rate was improving,” Fairweather says. “When employment improves and incomes improve, that’s when you start to see homeownership rates improve. The pandemic derailed that.’’

Nakitta Long, 45, who lives in Winston-Salem, N.C., wants to buy a home. But the mother of four lost her job with a car-maker at the start of the pandemic, struggled to pay rent, and was evicted from her rental home in April.

“We’ve been homeless ever since,” says Long, who’s now working full time but has had trouble finding housing because of her eviction and spotty credit. “I would have never thought in a million years that me and my kids, at this point in my life, would have to use a P.O. box for our address.”

She’s studying for a real estate license.

“I want to buy property for my family to never go through what I’m going through,’’ she says. “My mom doesn’t have any property. She’s living in the same apartment we grew up in. . . I’m hoping to break that cycle.”

Systemic inequities and outright bias have long hindered Black Americans’ ability to buy or hold onto the property. Redlining prevented Black Americans from getting mortgages for decades. Restrictive covenants barred Black residents from buying homes in white neighborhoods, and Black property owners were often displaced when expressway construction of split Black communities.

Also, Fairweather says that “Black people have been discriminated against in their employment meant they were earning less and less able to afford to buy a home. That persists today.”

Black people were disproportionately targeted for predatory loans that contributed to the housing crash and recession of 2008. Many suffered damage to their credit when they were unable to keep up with payments loaded with exorbitant interest rates or lost homes that were worth less than they’d paid for them.

Black buyers often work overtime to save money to buy a home. A Redfin analysis found 30% of Black respondents got an extra job in order to afford their first house versus 22% of whites.

Black first-time homebuyers tended to make more than their white counterparts, with 21% making at least $150,000 a year as compared with 11% of first-time white homebuyers. Also, 58% of white buyers made less than $50,000 a year when they bought their first home versus 34% of Black homebuyers with a similar income — a gap that might be due in part to Black buyers having to meet higher lending standards, Fairweather says.

If borrowing costs escalate, homebuyers who missed out on record low-interest rates could find themselves with “less revenue for the same amount of house,’’ Perry says.

You start with “less equity,” he says, which means less to put towards other expenses.

Even when interest rates are low, borrowers with significant debt or minimal down payments could get turned down for the lowest-cost loan.

“This is where discrimination shows up in credit scores,” Perry says. “Black people take out more loans, and that’s a direct result of just not having as much wealth … We’re compromised in terms of our debt-to-income ratio, which hurts you in terms of what interest rate you get if you qualify.”

And because even Black workers with college degrees tend to make less than their white peers, it can be tough to save enough to compete in the bidding wars that have been a hallmark of the heated housing market, Perry and others say.

Taylor found a home she hoped to buy for her family, which includes two sons, ages 3 and 4. But another buyer offered $240,000 in cash.

“I can’t compete with that,” she says. “My husband and I don’t have $150,000 to $250,000 in cash to just put down.”

While her husband pursues a doctorate, Taylor is going for a second master’s degree, in business administration, in “hopes we can get to a place where we can become higher earners.”

The Taylors have put aside $10,000 and are working with a program that assists first-time homebuyers. Still, “We’re not in a position … to even get to that basic point of moving out of our 400-unit building,’’ she says.

CREDITS: Charisse Jones / USA Today

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In historically Black neighborhoods, owners selling their homes on the open market have to grapple with the fact that accepting the highest bid could mean another step toward Black displacement.

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NAREB honored for advocating for equal opportunity affordable housing

Atlanta, GA, February 4, 2021 — Down Payment Resource (DPR) is proud to announce the National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB) as the 2020 recipient of the Beverly Faull Affordable Housing Leadership Award.

The award, named in memory of accomplished real estate veteran Beverly Faull, recognizes an individual or organization that has demonstrated leadership in providing more access to homeownership and affordable housing finance solutions. Faull was a well-respected veteran in the MLS and housing industry and one of DPR’s first employees.

“It’s an honor each year to celebrate Beverly’s passion for affordable housing, education and access to down payment assistance programs. NAREB is an industry leader, helping to keep this important housing mission in the forefront where it belongs,” said Rob Chrane, CEO of Down Payment Resource.

Founded in 1947, NAREB is the oldest professional organization for Black and minority real estate professionals. Their mission is “Democracy in Housing”, and their policy agendas and recommendations are focused on eliminating the barriers to Black homeownership and improving the community at large.

One of many notable efforts is the annual State of Housing in Black America (SHIBA) report. First published in 2013, the SHIBA report focuses on a range of issues impacting the Black community, from restructuring the mortgage financing available to Black families to providing financing for broad based community revitalization and unemployment.

Since their inception, NAREB has been influential in significant policy achievements and reframing the narrative on homeownership for future generations. Last year, NAREB launched a national campaign to educate GenX, millennials, GenY and GenZ’s on the value of creating generational wealth through homeownership. DPR partnered with NAREB to add the DPA Downpayment Widget to the NAREB website with a goal of providing potential homebuyers access to down payment help in their markets.

“NAREB’s passion for promoting homeownership in underserved communities is transforming the affordable housing industry. Innovative campaigns, such as the millennial marketing program, are making a measurable impact in Black communities across the country,” said Chrane.

The award includes a financial donation by DPR to the recipient’s housing non-profit of choice. NAREB National Executive Director, Antoine Thompson, will work with his team to determine how best to use the funds to support their ongoing mission.

“NAREB is honored to be the 2020 recipient of the Beverly Faull Affordable Housing Leadership Award.  Our continuing goal is to ensure equality and opportunity for Black Americans in their pursuit of affordable and sustainable homeownership. We promote the wisdom and economic advantages of building wealth through homeownership and are providing the tools as well as the educational guidance to begin the process through closing. We have a very special charge to preserve and push forward Democracy in Housing for Black Americans,” said Antoine Thompson.

Read the full press release.

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“It is out there,” one said of housing discrimination. “It is up to us to take note of it and say something when you see it.”

 

The latest market report from the Denver Metro Association of Realtors shows what all buyers are up against. The median home sales price for January was $395,000, up nearly 40 percent from January of 2015. Any of us looking to buy a home in Denver would have to scrape together a down payment and worry about what interest rates will do.

But only some of us might, as Michael Lunden did just a few years ago, have to read an email in which sellers balk at our offer because they don’t want a gay couple moving into the neighborhood. Or, as has happened to clients of Derek Camunez, arrive for an appointment to tour a home and be barred entry because of anti-Hispanic bias.

Lunden, who like Camunez is a broker in the Denver area, shared their stories Tuesday at the annual economic summit of the Colorado Association of Realtors to raise awareness about the barriers to the American dream faced by many Americans. They were joined by Lisa Nguyen, who is Asian-American, and Muriel Williams-Thompson, who is African-American, in urging their colleagues to see their role as advocates for clients.

“It is out there,” Camunez said of discrimination. “It is up to us to take note of it and say something when you see it.”

The legacy of historic discrimination is also a barrier. The homeownership rate among black households was 43 percent in 2017, compared to 72 percent of white households, according to Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. Red lining, the federal government’s practice of denying home loans to residents of neighborhoods that were predominately minority or immigrant, meant black and Hispanic families did not have the same chance to turn their homes into wealth they could pass on to their children and grandchildren. As a result, minorities were already at a disadvantage when the great recession hit. They also were disproportionately targeted by the predatory lending practices that helped bring on the housing crisis of the early part of this century.

Williams-Thompson said the focus for all buyers should be on ensuring they understand how lending works and know about programs that can help them make down payments. Increasing inventory and developing affordable housing also are key,

“There’s not enough housing out there for anybody,” she said.

Williams-Thompson is a member of the National Association of Real Estate Brokers, founded in 1947 to advocate for black realtors and consumers, and of its Denver affiliate. NAREB’s most recent annual report on the state of housing in black America lamented that “all gains for blacks in homeownership since the passage of the 1968 Fair Housing Act have been lost.” The act prohibits discrimination in the housing market on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, family status and disability.

Williams-Thompson’s great-grandmother was able to buy a house on York Street even though the deed said it should not have been sold to a black buyer. Williams-Thompson’s realty company, Town and Country, was founded in Denver in the 1950s by her grandfather, who once had a cross burned on his lawn at 35th and Monaco.

“I don’t have to experience bomb threats on my home because I’m selling homes to African-Americans,” Williams-Thompson said. She added the discrimination now is more subtle, such as pictures of Confederate flags placed in a home in what she saw as an attempt to warn her off.

Elliot Eisenberg, an economist who spoke at the realtors meeting, said the economy as a whole is held back when some people are denied the chance to build wealth.

“Discrimination really has very high costs,” he said. “We harm ourselves in our society when discrimination deprives people of the opportunity to buy the house they want.”

Realtors should be prepared to work with any community as a matter of good business sense, Nguyen said. Asians-Americans, she said, “are the fastest growing demographic in the U.S. and there is a ton of buying power.”

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The American Dream is described as a national ethos: a set of ideals in which freedom includes the opportunity for prosperity and success, and upward social mobility for the family and children, achieved through hard work in a society with few barriers.

That’s the Wikipedia definition.

For African American millennials, the dream remains deferred – and in some cases, is a nightmare.

“The American Dream, the idea that anyone can succeed through hard work, is one of the most enduring myths in this country. And one of its most prominent falsehoods,” Reniqua Allen, the author of “It Was All a Dream” wrote in a recent New York Times Op-Ed.

“As I entered my 30s, still navigating what achieving the dream would mean, I wondered what other black millennials were feeling. I wanted to figure out what my generation of Black Americans thought about the promise of the American dream and how we can attain it,” Allen said.

Keli Hammond, the owner and CEO of Washington, D.C.-based B Classic Marketing & Communications and author of “Craved: the Secret Sauce to Building a Highly-Successful, Standout Brand,” said Black millennials have an uphill climb to achieve the American Dream.

“Unfortunately, this is a very true reality. Race is a touchy subject in this country – always has been, always will be,” Hammond said. “It’s funny because, even thought it’s part of our social construct, it’s still incredibly uncomfortable when it’s talked about.”

Hammond, who holds a bachelor’s degree in Advertising from Temple University and a certification in Change Leadership from Cornell University, noted that race has a way of humbling dreams quite fast.

“Although I believe that millennials in general are struggling to identify with the American Dream, for Black millennials it can often feel like a dream you can’t achieve,” she said.

“We weren’t afforded the same job opportunities or raises, we don’t have the same networks, we’re not given the same leeway if we make a mistake, and we don’t have the same access to capital or generational wealth – it’s hard every day,” Hammond said.

In a survey customized exclusively for NNPA Newswire, Branded Research asked 452 African Americans which aspect of the American Dream is most important.

A total of 30 percent said having a comfortable retirement; 21 percent said homeownership; 21 percent said setting up their children for success; 15 percent said owing a business; 7 percent said a college education; and 6 percent said having a nuclear family.

When broken down by gender, 22 percent of men and 34 percent of women said having a comfortable retirement was most important.

Twenty-two percent of men identified homeownership as most important as compared with 21 percent of women.

When broken down by age, 24 percent of those between 18 and 24 identified setting up their children for success was most important and 21 percent of the same age group said having a comfortable retirement and owning a business is paramount.

Twenty-eight percent of African Americans between 25 and 34 identified home ownership as most important followed by setting up their children for success (27 percent); and having a comfortable retirement (19 percent).

Overall, African American consumers are most likely to say that the most important aspects of the American Dream are having a comfortable retirement, homeownership and setting children up for success.

African American women are more likely than African American men to say that having a comfortable retirement is the most important aspect of the American Dream.

Younger African Americans value homeownership, setting up children for success and owning a business while older African Americans value a comfortable retirement most.

“The American Dream isn’t what I strive for [because] my goal is to be successful in my chosen creative path of singing and to travel the world doing that – not to be tethered to a job I don’t like, to pay a mortgage I don’t want in order to live permanently anywhere,” said New York musician Risa Branch.

“I finally paid off my student loans. I want the freedom to be wherever I want to be,” Branch said.

“If I did get the surplus funds to buy a house, I’d rent it out and use the investment to fund a more mobile lifestyle.”

Hammond argued that Black millennials want equality, opportunity and freedom. “We want the same business and home loans, we want the same job offers, we want the same – everything,” she said.

“I’m college-educated, well-read, and well-traveled. I’m a business owner and a homeowner, and even with all of that, I’m keenly aware that I am still very much an underdog,” Hammond continued.

“Freedom means you don’t struggle financially or live paycheck-to-paycheck. Freedom means you’re able to relax sometimes and not worry about all the ways that you have to work to dispel racial myths and stereotypes.”

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Propel Opportunity Fund Inc. (www.propelopfund.com) is leading the charge with its preeminent qualified opportunity fund with its headquarters in Macon, Georgia. Propel Opportunity Fund was founded by, two-time National award winner, Frank Austin Jr. and co-founded by, Presidential Lifetime Achievement recipient, James Frank Austin III. Propel Opportunity Fund center of interest encompasses opportunity zones nationwide. The 450 Million dollar fund officially opened to investors as of December 17, 2018. Frank Austin and team has strategically developed lucrative exit strategies for investors through a corporate structure and strategic plans with uninterrupted positive impact to distressed communities and cities as a whole.

The Propel Fund has a strong focus in maximizing investor’s return in distressed neighborhoods. We believe that distressed communities pose many unique challenges and our team is nationally recognized for being an expert in distressed communities. We strive to create projects that will entice investors to achieve 100% capital gain tax deferment by remaining a strategic partner for 10 years. Our social purpose is to empower distress communities by deploying strategies that yield returns for investors, that create self-sustaining infrastructures and minimizing displacement.

“We want to set the tone for what change feels and looks like in distressed communities. This a huge opportunity and creating the right partnerships with the community, government, private investors and federal agencies will create substantial impact, said co-founder James Austin III.”

“This is a historic opportunity that seldom presents itself,” Frank Austin said in a statement. “It is a unique chance for investors to receive significant tax savings while investing in real estate located in communities that Propel Opportunity Fund Inc (www.propelopfund.com) has identified as exhibiting strong growth potential. It is also a chance for our investors to further diversify out of traditional investments such as stocks and bonds and into real estate, while also earning the additional return boost due to the tax savings of the [Opportunity Zones] program”.

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