Homeownership Access Key in National Housing Push

The urgent need for affordable housing is finally rising to the top of mainstream discourse across the United States. And yet a primary focus on the rental market, while critical, also risks neglecting the importance of addressing barriers to homeownership, according to the affordable housing experts and advocates at Cruz Companies.

“Homeownership remains one of the most powerful paths to wealth creation, financial security, and generational opportunity, and this is especially true in communities of color where we often work,” says Justin Cruz, COO of the third-generation Massachusetts-based and nationally active construction, development, and management enterprise founded in 1948.

“In areas where residents are still dealing with legacies of redlining and disinvestment, being able to buy a home can have an outsize economic impact with significant downstream benefits,” continues Cruz. “But for lower- and middle-income households in particular, data from the National Association of Realtors shows the supply of affordable for-sale housing has dropped precipitously in recent years. When we’re undertaking a large-scale development project, this is why we look for creative opportunities to incorporate for-sale units with prices set at a level that reflects the existing community.”

As examples, Justin Cruz and his colleagues point to diverse projects including the Residences at Harvard Commons, an innovative 99-home, mixed-income development in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood combining 54 single-family homes and 45 affordable apartments. Since residents began moving into the development’s first phase about 20 years ago, homebuyers at Harvard Commons have built significant equity, in some cases nearly tripling the initial value of their homes.

Cruz Companies is also now preparing to break ground on 135 and 145 Dudley at Nubian Square, a two-building mixed-use complex in Roxbury, Massachusetts with 60 affordable rental apartments and 110 condominium units — a significant percentage of which will be listed at below-market-rate “workforce housing” prices. That makes homeownership accessible to a much wider swath of potential buyers with lower household incomes.

“Projects like these are an important start, but more are needed,” says the Cruz Companies president and CEO John B. Cruz III. “In fact, that’s why we are expanding and creating community-focused development opportunities in Maryland and across the Mid-Atlantic region, as well as exploring markets such as Detroit and Cleveland.”

“We would really like to see both government agencies and private-sector leaders step up in a meaningful way to support an expansion of accessible homeownership options,” continues Cruz. “More major regional employers, for instance, could provide low- or zero-interest loans to help employees purchase homes, and we are sharing ideas with elected officials and housing administrators about potential new paradigms for subsidizing homeownership and making it more affordable.”