Inside the plan to help more Black Minnesotans own homes
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Illustration: Maura Losch/Axios
To help low-income families from the historically Black Rondo neighborhood buy homes, St. Paul launched its Inheritance Fund last year.
- The community was upended and hundreds of families were displaced during the construction of I-94 in the late 1950s, according to city officials.
Why it matters: The U.S. Black homeownership rate (45.9%) is nearly 30 percentage points lower than the white homeownership rate (73.8%), per the latest economic data from the Federal Reserve.
How it works: Qualifying descendants of Rondo residents and business owners can receive up to $100,000 in down payment funds to buy a home anywhere in the city, and $10,000 more if the property is within historic Rondo.
- Eligible homebuyers can earn up to 100% of the area median income.
Flashback: Anthony Bradford, who closed on a two-story brick house last summer, was the first Rondo descendant to tap the fund, MPR News reported.
Zoom out: Community Land Trusts — there are over 1,400 homes in these trusts statewide — are another route to affordable homeownership.
- A dozen Minnesota organizations help people of color and those with low incomes pay below market rate for a home while leasing the land it sits on from the Trust.
What they're saying: "My rent was going up, and buying a house was one way to keep the monthly costs low," says Mike Creger, a Black CLT homeowner in Duluth.
Be smart: HUD compiles a variety of homeowner education tools, from figuring out how much house you can afford to finding aid for home repairs.
- St. Paul also has a downpayment assistance program geared toward all qualifying city homebuyers who make up to 80% of the area's median income.