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Special Reports
Hispanic Marketing
Freddie Helps Local Groups Reach Out to Latinos
By Brad Finkelstein
WASHINGTON -- Neighborhood Housing Services of New York City was looking to expand
its outreach campaign aimed at creating Latino homeowners in northern Queens, as well as continue an existing program
it had in the South Bronx.
For help in doing this, NHS turned to Freddie Mac. This is one of between 12 and
15 public/private partnerships around the country aimed at increasing levels of homeownership among Hispanic Americans
that Freddie Mac has, said Vaughn Irons, director of expanding markets.
The overall homeownership rate in New York is 33%. Among Hispanics, it is just
15%.
"New York City's Latino residents are very important to us," said Sarah
S. Gerecke, chief executive of NHS NYC. "And we are excited to be expanding the Latino campaign with Freddie
Mac. In 2004, over 20% of our first-time homebuyers were Latinos, and we expect their number to grow significantly
in the near future."
The NHS Latino outreach campaign began in 2003 and has helped 556 participants
decrease debt, build credit and savings, and become wiser consumers. Components of the campaign include financial
fitness classes, homebuyers' clubs, homebuyers' fairs and advertisements in Spanish-language newspapers.
Mr. Irons noted that marketing successfully to this market is not just taking
existing materials and translating them into Spanish.
It is not just a language issue, he said. There are many different cultures in
the Hispanic community.
As part of the efforts to reach out to this community, Freddie Mac has developed
materials and approaches that are specific to Hispanics.
But Freddie Mac's role is in the background. That is because most of the consumers
targeted, Mr. Irons noted, are not familiar with Freddie Mac; they are familiar with entities such as NHS.
Craig Nickerson, vice president of expanding markets at Freddie Mac, said, "We
are helping individuals understand, build and maintain solid credit for their future, which may include purchasing
a home. Central to the campaign is the recognition of the challenges to homeownership Latino families often face,
including language and cultural barriers, nontraditional credit, and a lack of experience with the homebuying process."
Among the other partnerships Freddie Mac has is one in Los Angeles with Chase
Home Finance aimed at both Hispanics and African-Americans. The effort is called "Homeownership: Let the Truth
Move You" or "Tu propia casa: ¡Atrevete!" The campaign debunks common misconceptions about
homeownership that are stopping minority families from even considering buying a home.
Partners include The Los Angeles Neighborhood Housing Service, ACORN Housing,
Hyde Park Organizational Partnership for Empowerment and the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals.
Freddie Mac conducted a survey asking African-Americans and Hispanics about seven
common myths regarding homeownership.
Among the findings for Hispanics was just more than half said almost perfect credit
was needed to qualify for a mortgage, 26% said a poor credit rating could not be improved, approximately four in
10 said a 20% downpayment was required, 46% said those without a checking or savings account could not buy a home,
and 58% believe a person must have the same job for three years to qualify.
The aim of the various campaigns is to work with the nonprofit groups to help
the consumer who is influenced by these myths to start to consider the possibility that they can own a home and
help them start to prepare to do so, Mr. Irons said.
Another recently announced program is the Bridgeport Homeownership Made Easy initiative.
This is a comprehensive faith-based effort of 10 African-American and Hispanic churches that will work together
to prepare and educate more families for homeownership through counseling and access to low-downpayment mortgages.
The initiative eventually will grow to 100 churches.
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