Latinos Comprando Casa, a comprehensive training and counseling program for low-income first-time homebuyers, was inspired by the need of aspiring Latino homeowners for accessible homebuying training and assistance in Spanish.
One of City Life/Vida Urbana’s greatest victories of the 1990s was exposing discriminatory lending practices that blocked Latinos from homeownership. Out of that campaign, the banks involved agreed to increase loans to Latinos each year by 25% and further commit funds to start a first-time homebuyer program for Latinos.
That program is Latinos Comprando Casa. The flagship Homebuying 101 course consists of a 15 hours of classes and one-on-one counseling. All course materials and presentations are in Spanish, with classes scheduled during evenings and weekends, and there is childcare available to help working families attend the classes. Seven years after our organizing victory, Latinos Comprando Casa has graduated over 450 potential homebuyers!
LCC graduates’ individual housing searches confirm that there are very few homes on the market within the price range of low-income and working-class families. And so, just as City Life/Vida Urbana has found that negotiating with landlords is best done collectively, the process of buying a home is no longer an individual matter but a struggle most effectively waged by a united community.
In partnership with the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corporation, the graduates of Latinos Comprando Casa have formed the Homebuying Committee for Social Justice, to create affordable ownership opportunities and buy their first homes by working together. Following its first meeting 2 years ago, the committee demanded more city resources for cultivating alternative ownership opportunities such as Limited Equity Cooperatives and Limited Equity Condominiums.
Latinos Comprando Casa continues to grow in response to community need and feedback, recently adding workshops on financial literacy that teach about credit and managing personal finances. Other workshops such as those on predatory lending in minority communities, and one’s responsibilities as a landlord have been added to the program too.
Classes are held nine times a year – sign up today.
For more information, call Gloria Rosario at (617) 524-3541 x302.