Name
Detroit Dreams Deferred: Thousands Mortgage Ready but Many Miss Out
Date & Time
Wednesday, May 4, 2022, 10:15 AM - 11:15 AM
Description

This collaborative research project between Southwest Economic Solutions, DC Palmer LLC, and the Center for Equitable Family and Community Well-Being at the University of Michigan had two main questions: (1) What is the demand for homeownership in Detroit, and can participation in HUD-certified education programs capture that demand? (2) What is the context of homeownership in Detroit that program participants face? To answer these questions, the research team reviewed program data for 14 HUD-certified counseling agencies in Detroit covering years 2015 to 2019. These data include 7,458 participants in pre-purchase housing counseling. In this presentation, we review the program data, and its similarity to the rest of Detroit as a way of understanding demand for single-family housing, as well as participants' ultimate success in purchasing a home. The research team also reviewed data on 46,894 property sales between 2015 and 2019 from the Detroit city assessor's office, as well as data on 6,639 home purchase loans from the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act over the same period of time. These data allowed our research team to calculate a percentage of mortgage financed sales at a neighborhood level across Detroit. Our presentation will show where in the city mortgage financing is very weak and how this has changed over time. Our team will discuss what our findings mean for those looking to buy a home in Detroit, potential policy solutions to address the lending shortfall, and collaborations that can make homeownership available to more Detroit residents.

Certification Credit Type
NASW and APA