In an effort to increase homeownership among the city’s black population, a branch of Las Vegas-based Alterra Home Loans is opening in Baton Rouge on Park Rowe Avenue.
The lender’s goal is to open branches in every major city in America that has an at least 25% black population, says Ben Slayton, the company’s Legacy Division President.
The Baton Rouge office, which will be managed by former Affluent Home Loans manager Katherine Robins, is one of three new branches, with the other two in Dallas and Atlanta.
“We will recruit loan officers from the communities we serve and train them to help our borrowers build a legacy for their families through homeownership,” Slayton says in a prepared statement.
The news comes six months after Investar Bank launched a unique program intended to increase homeownership in north Baton Rouge, buying up land in the underserved area and partnering with local contractors to develop residential properties.
Less than 1% of the mortgage originators in the country are black. And homeownership among blacks is at 43%, or 20% below the national average, a gap the National Association of Real Estate Brokers aims to reduce.
In 2017, NAREB announced a goal to attain 2 million new black homeowners in five years, calling the initiative “2MN5.”
“NAREB’s goal is very ambitious,” Slayton says. “But it is achievable.”
