MBA Launches CONVERGENCE: Columbus

(Columbus, Ohio. Photo courtesy Experience Columbus.)

The Mortgage Bankers Association this week launched a major pilot program to promote minority homeownership opportunities in Columbus, Ohio.

CONVERGENCE: Columbus, led by MBA, the Ohio Housing Finance Agency, and the John Glenn College of Public Affairs at The Ohio State University, is a multiyear commitment involving stakeholders from government, the nonprofit sector, and the housing finance industry. 

“Our goal is to bring together a local network of public officials and housing leaders to identify and collaborate on new ways to promote sustainable homeownership for underserved people and communities in Columbus,” said MBA’s President and CEO Bob Broeksmit, CMB. “For too long, our nation has faced distressing minority homeownership gaps. We want to do our part to address this problem by working with others to try new and bold approaches.”  

CONVERGENCE: Columbus comes on the heels of the successful launch in 2020 of a similar minority homeownership pilot program in Memphis, Tennessee, called CONVERGENCE: Memphis. MBA believes that the pilots in Columbus and Memphis can serve as testing grounds for innovation and collaboration, with the goal of creating roadmaps for more minority homeownership partnerships in other communities.

“We believe that homeownership can reduce the racial wealth gap and create a stronger foundation for community stability and economic prosperity,” said MBA’s Senior Vice President of Affordable Housing Initiatives Steve O’Connor. “Columbus has an impressive network of government, nonprofit, and housing industry stakeholders who care deeply about increasing minority homeownership. We are honored and excited to be working with them.”

In addition to CONVERGENCE, MBA has been leading the industry in establishing a strong affordable housing and minority homeownership platform. MBA recently established its Minority Homeownership Joint Task Force to provide industry leadership and direction for reducing the racial homeownership gap and promoting sustainable homeownership policies for communities of color. Along with creating the task force, MBA has created two advisory councils on affordable homeownership and affordable rental housing. Both councils unite voices from across the industry to foster progress on housing affordability. 

For more information on CONVERGENCE and MBA’s affordable housing initiatives, click here