Her parents were homeowners on a $20,000 salary. How does Arizona ensure that now?

Opinion: There are good reasons why Phoenix is one of five cities being targeted to boost Latino homeownership.

Visiting her parents in Somerton, Patricia Garcia Duarte often finds herself admiring the nopales and citrus trees in their backyard — trees her father planted decades ago at the home he built brick-by-brick and modified over the years.For three decades, Patricia has been a fearless advocate for homeowners and today leads Chicanos Por La Causa, a historic Arizona nonprofit with credentialed housing and financial services programs. She understands at a deep level the kinds of barriers Latino families face when it comes to buying a home.They were poor but owned their homeGrowing up, her parents had little money. Her father worked in the lettuce fields — a seasonal job that resulted in periods of unemployment and for whom no bank would have granted a mortgage.Thanks to her mother’s ability to stretch their dollar, her father’s construction skills and a trusted connection who offered a rent-to-own deal for two plots of land, Patricia’s parents have their home today.Patricia’s parents, now in their 80s, still live in this house and never had a mortgage. She thinks about what would have been different had they been renters on a $20,000-a-year income.Homeownership remains the primary driver of household and generational wealth for American families, but not all Latino families are as fortunate as Patricia’s when it comes to achieving homeownership.Systemic barriers to access have widened racial and wealth gaps.How do we create Latino homeowners?First-time home buyers today face an even tougher set of challenges — including one of the most competitive markets in history. Housing stock is in low supply, causing prospective homebuyers to grapple with a highly competitive market and high prices. To address some of these challenges with the long-term in mind, UnidosUS launched the HOME (Home Ownership Means Equity) initiative to create 4 million new Latino homeowners by 2030.It entails a $100 million fundraising effort and investments in five initial test markets, including Phoenix.Despite many challenges, we ar …

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