{"id":8910,"date":"2021-06-01T17:12:11","date_gmt":"2021-06-01T17:12:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/?p=8910"},"modified":"2021-06-01T19:04:00","modified_gmt":"2021-06-01T19:04:00","slug":"houston-association-of-realtors-tackles-issues-of-diversity-and-inclusion-2-2-2-2-2-3-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/homepage\/success-story\/charlotte-hop-0621","title":{"rendered":"Housing Opportunity Grants Keeping the Focus on Homeownership and Housing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>As the pandemic was causing untold upheaval in the past year, the importance of decreasing barriers to homeownership remained constant.\u00a0 Housing Opportunity Grants<\/a> from the REALTOR\u00ae<\/sup> Party helped associations across the country continue to narrow the gap between the housing haves and have-nots.<\/p>\n

The Charlottesville Area Association of REALTORS\u00ae<\/sup> in Virginia had already secured a Housing Opportunity Grant to help sponsor \u2018Housing Our Future,\u2019 an in-person regional summit for housing practitioners organized by the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission, when the event was forced online by the pandemic and morphed into a four-part series.\u00a0 Ali DiGuardo, CAAR\u2019s Director of Marketing & Communications, describes the resulting virtual series as a resounding success \u2013 with several distinct advantages, including cost and time savings, and convenience for everyone involved.<\/p>\n

The goals of the summit were to increase community understanding of existing housing conditions, identification of regulatory barriers, and find adaptable solutions to affordable housing. Each of the hour-long sessions had about 50 people in attendance, including elected and agency officials, community and business leaders, housing advocates, architects and developers, and real estate professionals. \u00a0\u201cAnyone with a stake in homebuilding and housing should be a part of these conversations,\u201d says DiGuardo, \u201cwhich is why it was important for the REALTORS\u00ae<\/sup> to take a leadership role as sponsors.\u00a0 We are grateful to the REALTOR\u00ae<\/sup> Party for helping us amplify our presence when advocating for affordable housing in our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Each of the sessions offered Q&A time for engagement with the speakers.\u00a0 For those who couldn\u2019t attend in real-time, the sessions were also recorded.\u00a0 Admission fees were waived when the program pivoted to its less costly online format. \u00a0According to DiGuardo, \u201cThe program will likely be offered again next year in a hybrid format, to capitalize on some of these \u2018silver lining\u2019 advantages.\u00a0 So many housing professionals and advocates around the nation are experiencing similar challenges, so if someone in Seattle has solutions to share, it would be great to be able to welcome them to the table without restrictions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, in Springfield, Illinois, the Capital Area REALTORS\u00ae<\/sup> hosted four \u2018Pathway to Homeownership\u2019 seminars in March 2021, in person, in compliance with Covid-19 protocols, and with an emphasis on creating comfortable settings for aspiring homeowners.\u00a0 The events took place in two different church halls in two different disadvantaged neighborhoods that have lots of rental units \u2013 and affordable housing stock. \u00a0In total, about 50 participants heard from a credit counselor, a lender, and a REALTOR\u00ae<\/sup> about understanding and improving credit scores, the loan application process, financing options, the advantages of owning a home, and the advantages of using a REALTOR. \u00a0Those who registered in advance were offered free credit counseling, and follow-up indicated that many contacted lenders in the ensuing days to investigate their qualification.<\/p>\n

Chief Executive Officer Kathy Nichelson explains that the impetus for the seminars came from her Government Affairs Committee, in discussions about rent control.\u00a0 \u201cThey realized that if we were opposed to rent control, we\u2019d better be offering alternative solutions.\u00a0 Ideally, that would be helping people get into homes of their own.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0This was the first time the 700-member association had offered such a program, and from the early planning stages, says Nichelson, they focused on details that would make participants feel at home as they embarked on what might be a daunting process.\u00a0 From locating the events in the target neighborhoods, to scheduling them on a weekday evening and Saturday morning to accommodate a range of work hours, to making sure all hosts were attired in business-casual rather than in suits, they strove to make the seminars as convenient and welcoming as possible.\u00a0 The grant from the REALTOR\u00ae<\/sup> Party covered both refreshments and marketing, which was mainly through social media.\u00a0 Nichelson notes that any size association could replicate the program by making use of expertise they already have.\u00a0 \u201cWe found that the participants were hungry for information.\u00a0 They were taking notes and asking questions. \u00a0We provided folders with lots of resources, and documents backing up the PowerPoint presentations for reference. \u00a0These are motivated, aspiring homeowners, and they\u2019ll be well-positioned to take their next steps.\u201d<\/p>\n

To learn more about how the REALTOR\u00ae<\/sup> Party is helping REALTORS\u00ae<\/sup> keep homeownership issues and education front-and-center, contact Kathy Nichelson of the Capital Area REALTORS\u00ae<\/sup> at knichelson@caaronline.com<\/a> or 217.698.7000; and Ali DiGuardo at the Charlottesville Area Association of REALTORS\u00ae<\/sup>, at ali@caar.com<\/a> or 434.817.2396.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the Charlottesville, Virginia and Springfield, Illinois regions, REALTOR\u00ae efforts to increase housing and homeownership continued unabated through the pandemic, with regional summits and localized education. Housing Opportunity Grants from the REALTOR\u00ae Party supported the work of these respective associations as they continued to lead their communities in housing efforts.","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8924,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,296],"tags":[1678,1677,407],"class_list":["post-8910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-success-stories","category-success-story","tag-charlottesville-area-association-of-realtors","tag-housing-opportunity-grants","tag-virginia"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8910"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8910\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}