Dear readers,
In August 2021, The Washington Informer launched the Our House D.C. Newsletter, a monthly platform designed to document and examine factors that contributed to the loss of housing among Blacks and marginalized residents in Wards 7 and 8.
Our House opened dialogue and provided critical resources to readers that assisted homeowners, their communities and local government agencies in practical solutions to a myriad of housing concerns. We served not only as ambassadors, of sort, to homeowners, but also found ourselves learning a lot about great programs and networks that aid homeowners.
Our House D.C. has made a difference in the way conversations are conducted about homeownership in Wards 7 and 8. Indeed, the newsletters are helping place these considerations into spaces where improvements and policy changes occur.
Last year while visiting my mother, I asked her to define “generational wealth.” She immediately spoke of the importance of living within your means, paying a mortgage, not rent, and “saving, saving, saving.” Mom’s perspective, I found, was similar to the sentiments of U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Marcia Fudge and former United Nations Ambassador Andrew Young.
“The biggest thing we do in our society to build wealth is ownership,” Fudge told Yahoo Finance Live. “If we start to devalue the homes of people of color, then we have taken away the opportunity to build wealth.”
Reflecting on generational wealth, Young considered 1966 in Chicago during protests regarding inequities in poverty and slum conditions.
Young said housing owned by White slumlords was their form of generational wealth: “But it was usually a form of generational wealth for them that they really didn’t need.”
“Generational wealth is absolutely necessary and essential if possible,” Young continued. “The first possibility of generational wealth is probably to own a home. If you can own a home and pass it on to your children, you’ve really done something.”
Consistent with my mother, at the core of generational wealth for Ambassador Young and Secretary Fudge is leaving a home for your children. It is also a definition passed on from their parents.
Getting into and maintaining a home is not an easy process. It can be, at times, for first-time buyers and current homeowners alike, quite challenging. Chief among those concerns is the costs of homes. The average home in the District is $600,000.
What’s affordable about $600,000 for the average Washington resident?
In this week’s edition and in the Our House newsletters you’ll find a lot of “How To’s” in home buying and maintaining ownership as the push for Black homeownership continues.
We discuss how the housing crisis challenges renters and buyers, explain the importance of making and implementing sound financial decisions in building and achieving generational wealth, outline steps to keep homes safe for elderly loved ones, and offer seven ways to protect your family from exposure to lead in water.
The Informer also keeps a pulse on issues affecting homeowners in the District, such as our recent coverage on condominium owners on Talbert Street Southeast who have become renters due to faulty conditions, which have rendered their homes uninhabitable by District Government.
In other words, The Washington Informer is dedicated to being your reliable resource guide on keeping abreast of the issues confronting Black homeownership and educating readers about opportunities and programming promoting continued local Black homeowners and generational wealth.
Pleasant reading!
Sincerely,
Austin R. Cooper Jr.