♪ ♪ ♪ >> Lydia Pope, President of the National Association of Real Estate Brokers, and Marcus Coleman, Director of the Center for Faith-Based Partnerships of the Department of Homeland Security next on "The Chavis Chronicles."

>> Major funding for "The Chavis Chronicles" is provided by... Reynolds American, dedicated to building a better tomorrow for our employees and communities.

Reynolds stands against racism and discrimination in all forms and is committed to building a more diverse and inclusive workplace.

American Petroleum Institute -- through the core elements of API's Energy Excellence Program, our members are committed to accelerating safety, environmental and sustainability progress throughout the natural-gas and oil industry in the U.S. and around the world.

You can learn more at api.org/apiEnergyExcellence.

Over the next 10 years, Comcast is committing $1 billion to reach 50 million low-income Americans with the tools and resources they need to be ready for anything.

♪ ♪ >> We're pleased to welcome to "The Chavis Chronicles" the national president of the National Association of Real Estate Brokers, Lydia Pope.

Welcome to "The Chavis Chronicles."

>> My pleasure.

Glad to be here.

>> But tell us, Lydia, growing up in Cleveland, what first interested you in real estate?

>> Well, my father, he used to work for the city, and throughout the years, you know, he used to take a lot of the gangs off the street, and he used to show them about housing.

He worked for a nonprofit agency.

And I used to walk the streets with him as a young child and watch how he would just, you know, help the gangs, work with them.

And they used to take these properties and have to -- They had a sheet of paper and they would begin to mark off of the properties, rehab in a rough, maybe some painting.

And then when they were all done, my mom used to work the lunch program.

They would go and have lunch.

So I didn't realize over the course of the years that that was real estate.

I just followed him and walked with him through the streets and city of Cleveland.

>> So following your father.

>> Yes.

>> And his activities in the community.

You learned something about not only the value of real estate, but the importance of the community having a stake of ownership, a stake of caring about the properties.

>> Absolutely.

My father passed away in '91.

My mother told me the story how we were the second blacks -- you know, black family to move on our street.

>> Really?

>> And she found out when she had his card, his real-estate card, and his real-estate card prompted her to own a home.

The first house that we ever owned was a land contract.

And I've never seen a land contract, but they end up owning their home sky free.

So when my dad passed away, we have some generational wealth and now today my brother still stays in that same property that the family owned.

>> Let's fast-forward to NAREB.

NAREB was founded in what year?

>> So, NAREB was founded in 1947.

Actually July 29th, Tampa, Florida, 1947 is when the National Association of Real Estate Brokers was formed.

>> So 74 years.

>> 74 years and going strong.

>> Prior to 1947, could an African-American person in real estate be a member of the National Real Estate Association?

>> No, they were not allowed to be a member of the association.

So then they were -- >> Why?

Just because of race?

>> Because of the color of our skin, because we were black, and they would not allow us access to any type of housing programs.

And so then that's when NAREB formed together.

And that's what we call ourself, Realtists, and our whole mission was fighting the democracy in housing, assuring that any African-American can buy a home no matter where you live, no matter how price of a house you buy.

But everyone has a right to own a home, especially African-Americans.

>> And so for 74 years, Realtists have been out there and showing that African-Americans can not only acquire a home, own a home, but keep a home?

>> You know, and it's absolutely right, you know?

We were born and raised in black neighborhoods.

Who better understands about community than we do?

Who better know that when it talks about democracy in housing and fighting the mission of making sure that African-Americans own a home better than we do?

We walk the streets, we live the streets, we go to the schools, we go to the grocery stores.

That's what we're about.

We're right in the heart of the community, right in the grassroots of the efforts of what we're doing.

>> What are the benefits of owning your home?

>> Number one, it's the peace of mind.

You know, when you talk about walking into your home, where you see community, where you can walk to the grocery store, where you have neighbors that you can talk to and most of all, it's your property.

And the best thing of anything is that you can pass this on from generation to generation.

You know, I talked about earlier how my mother owned the home.

We sold it to our brother.

Guess what.

Now he's going to sell it to his children.

That's generational wealth.

That's homeownership.

You can pull the equity out of that.

You have the whole place to do whatever you feel you like to.

It's that peace of mind, that freedom and just really being part of a community that your children can play with each other.

They have friends in the neighborhood.

They have schools they can go to.

It's about building that community.

But you got to own the home, be a part of that.

It's land, and land never ceases.

>> Explain a little bit more about this concept democracy in housing.

>> So when you talk about democracy in housing, you talk about the fight, the battle, you know, understanding that even today, our rates of black homeownership is still that 40 -- What's it, 46%?

You know, we've not moved the needle.

And it's so important that, as blacks, that we have to fight for our rights, fight for what we want.

And if that means going to our legislation, going to our congressional people, to our GSEs, you know, our goal is to talk and advocate for democracy in housing, advocate for the communities that we stay in, advocate for those that are in need, advocate for those that can't speak for themselves.

Let us be the voice for them.

>> I recall some years ago, NAREB really made a significant announcement by being the first national organization to publish a document called the "State of Housing in Black America," SHIBA Report.

Explain the significance of SHIBA.

>> So, SHIBA stands for, again, the State of Housing in Black America.

You know, in 2012, you know, America needs to understand that we were facing a lot of challenges, not just with them, but then the black homeownership, but other arenas.

You're talking about access to credit, loan-level pricing, down-payment assistance.

There are so many issues that centered around why blacks cannot purchase or had a difficult time purchasing a home.

So that's when NAREB bought out what we called the State of Housing in Black America.

And that report today still exists.

You know, we do that on an annual basis, and I'm very, very so excited that what we've indoctrinated into this SHIBA report was now we'll be doing at what we call our Black Summit that will be an annual event that we as NAREB will publish our own events, have our own events as it pertains to, you know, the SHIBA report and talking about some of the statistics of what's happening within the black community.

And then what are the solutions?

And we just want to encourage everyone to read the report.

You know, we talk about 2012 and the same issues that were in that 2012 SHIBA report still exist today.

>> How do young people get involved in real estate?

Are there mentorship programs?

Are there apprenticeship?

Talk to us about the opportunities to be a Realtist.

>> Earlier in January of this year, we came out what we call our five pillars, five pillars of building black wealth, which is really the part of the solution to our SHIBA.

And so within those five pillars, one of those pillars, it talks about our generational wealth.

That focus is on our millennials.

It focuses on our Generation Z's understanding that there has been a shift in the real-estate market, understanding that within our millennial organization, there's been some challenges that's been going on within our millennials, understanding that they need the assistance and the help when it comes to homeownership.

You know, what we find out is the millennial community, even though they're a younger generation, even though some of their credit scores are great, we still have hard challenges dealing with student loans and other challenges.

And our goal is to really work within the millennial community, understanding the social media and what it takes to get their attention that they too can become homeowners.

>> Absolutely.

I've known some cases where college students, even though they have some debt for tuition, they're also becoming homeowners even while they're in school.

>> Absolutely, and that's when NAREB -- our three policy positions, one of those policy positions is not just loan-level pricing and down-payment assistance, but it's student-loan debt.

You know, you're talking $1.7 trillion in student-loan debt, which is higher than a typical credit card, which is $900 billion.

That's a huge difference.

So we understand the needs of student loans and the debt that is incurred.

So what are we doing about it?

So there are some things that the GSEs are working on as well as NAREB as an advocate group to discuss those challenges and how we're going to come across some resolutions.

>> What is the relationship between NAREB and HUD?

>> So we've had conversation within, you know, within HUD, and we're looking to really focus and work with the organization so we can build more relationships and not just build the relationships with HUD, but really be an advocate as far as homeownership.

We want to thank the honorable Marcia Fudge for at least bringing that to the table.

It's been sitting out for so long, but we have more work to do, so as we begin to bridge the gap with NAREB and HUD, we look forward to more conversations with them and meetings.

>> So two Cleveland sisters are getting together.

>> Getting it together.

>> Alright.

How has COVID-19 impacted housing in Black America?

>> It's impacted it tremendously.

You know, when you have a black community that becomes unemployed, when the unemployment rate is high and they own properties and they're losing their properties, you know, because they can't afford it anymore, and then when you have the gentrification coming in and taking over and investors that are buying properties underneath the homeowners, that's a challenge within the black community.

You're not building community.

So NAREB understands that.

We've taken the position.

When we talk about our five pillars, part of that is the solution of going into the communities, and part of that is number one, our faith-based organizations, our civic engagement, going into the community, into the churches, generational wealth, you know, understanding that it's just not about the millennials and the Generation Z's, but it's also our baby boomers and our Generation X's that we're losing the properties.

How do they sustain and have that generational wealth?

And then you go into the diversity and inclusion, you know, really, really bridging that gap between homeownership with blacks and the loans that they're providing and opportunities that they can too get some assistance.

I know the government is working on programs and initiatives, but the same point at times the black community is still suffering at a fast pace right now.

And at this window right now, they need our help and they need our assistance because we want them to sustain in the community.

>> Even before COVID hit, there were recognized and acknowledged disparities in terms of mortgages and the major mortgage companies.

Are there any programs to help making sure that a qualified African-American can get the proper loan?

>> So that's one of the policies that NAREB has.

That's the loan-level pricing.

You know, are black folks being priced out because of credit and because of lack of down payment?

They're having more points added on and more pricing, which causes them to not be able not to afford it, but to sustain it even when they try to do a refinance.

>> So how is that -- That's systemic discrimination?

>> Absolutely.

>> So how can we not only identify, but how can we rectify it?

>> Well, first of all, NAREB, as we're doing now, voicing our concerns, voicing our concerns not just to legislation, but to the GSEs.

You know, if we don't talk about it, we can't be about it.

So it's time that we begin -- >> You said GSEs.

Let people know what we're talking about.

>> GSEs deal with your government agencies like Fannie, Freddie and HUD.

>> Yes.

>> Voicing your opinions and voicing what you feel, and even statistic to show that blacks are being discriminated against in a loan-level pricing arena, which is pricing them out of properties.

Appraisals are being short.

Appraisers are changing the appraisals from one side of the house to the next side of the street, where there's challenges with that, so we have so many major issues that, as NAREB, we have to voice it.

That's why we have the 90-plus chapters.

That's why we have the regional vice presidents because we can't just talk about this alone, and we need to partner with other black organizations that are in the same fight as we are.

Even though we may be the oldest and largest housing organization in this country, it's going to take many to work with us.

Even your congressional people and not just through Congress, but through your local, your senators, but your local council folks.

You've got to voice it out.

So we train our members to know how to speak the language and be able to voice that within the communities.

But it's going to take all of us.

>> Lydia Pope, President of the National Association of Real Estate Brokers, NAREB, thank you so much for joining "The Chavis Chronicles."

>> My pleasure.

♪ ♪ >> We are so pleased to welcome to "The Chavis Chronicles" Marcus Tillman Coleman.

>> Yes, sir.

>> You are the Director of the Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships of the Department of Homeland Security.

That's quite a title.

>> Yes, it is quite a title, indeed.

>> And before you were at Homeland Security, you worked for FEMA, which is part of Homeland Security.

>> Correct.

>> What is the mission of the Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships at the Department of Homeland Security?

>> The center itself is actually part of the White House Office of Faith-Based Neighborhood Partnerships, and the mission of that office is to help increase the number of partnerships between faith-based and community-based organizations.

We often talk about ourselves as one of many doors for organizations of faith and people of no faith that want to engage with the federal government.

From my office at the Department of Homeland Security, we focus on a few key areas, one being disaster preparedness and recovery.

As you know, and I know throughout your years of leadership, oftentimes during disasters, African-Americans, people of color are disproportionately impacted by disasters.

But we also focus on safety and security for houses of worship and continuously getting engaged and involved in climate adaptation.

So we know that climate change is continuing to impact communities in severe ways.

But we want to make sure that we're learning from our faith-based and community-based organizations to adapt to those changes while making sure that we're mindful of the emerging threats that they face, both natural and man-made disasters.

>> So you come out of Tucson, Arizona.

>> Tucson, Arizona, born and raised, absolutely.

>> That's a diverse state, diverse community.

>> Yes.

And home of Arizona Informant, in terms of an NNPA publication.

So I grew up following my mother, who worked at the Urban League in Tucson, Arizona, and spent a lot of time at interfaith prayer breakfasts, interfaith seders.

Noticed that you had council people, mayors coming to meet the faith community, and it all came full circle after my time at Howard University, where I was able to learn about not just how cities are run, but really how communities respond to disasters and was at FEMA from 2010 to 2018.

>> Now, we have a new administration, the Biden/Harris administration, and there's been an emphasis on diversity, equity and inclusion.

>> Absolutely.

>> How do you see the trend?

Are you seeing more people of color first working for the government, more people of color getting the services of the federal government?

>> The Biden/Harris administration, day one, they had that executive order that focused specifically on racial equity.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency -- people may not know this -- they have an explicit focus on equity and looking at equity in FEMA program delivery.

Appreciate your question about people receiving services.

Post-Katrina, one of the big challenges is you had a lot of disaster survivors that were denied assistance because maybe they had what we call heir property, right?

They got their house from a grandmother or grandfather, it was passed down from generation to generation.

After Hurricane Ida on August 2nd, we actually implemented a policy change that removed that as a barrier to get services.

So if we find other forms of documentation that you can use to prove where you live to get services, when we talk about emergency management as a whole, we do see increased participation not just in FEMA, but we continue to see the leadership from long-standing organizations like the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the National Urban League, and many of our faith institutions, the African Methodist Episcopal Church, National Baptist Convention, taking outsized roles to support disaster survivors alongside the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

>> As you've stated that many of our communities are disproportionately impacted when a hurricane happens or when a flood happens or even a forest fire happens.

What can we do to help be better ready for disasters?

>> I think one of the systemic challenges we used to face is people had to go to a location, often outside of the communities most impacted to get the services and information they need.

Another change that we made at FEMA was being able to hire people from the community oftentimes and bring them directly to those churches and to those hubs and faith communities.

The biggest encouragement we have for faith communities now is to really think about and plan ahead for disruptions that may occur.

We're still in a pandemic and we've seen a lot of houses of worship and a lot of churches have to move to 100% online.

And we see time and time again as the history of our people, people are being innovative, they're continuing to serve and they're continuing to scale their impact.

And just thinking about some of those practical steps that you can take to continue to be of service would be critically important.

A specific example is the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the National Baptist Convention and a number of the faith organizations that serve predominately black organizations have committed in invaluable ways to increasing individual community preparedness.

So knowing what documents that you need, for example, when you talk to your insurance agent, but also unfortunately, if you need to go through the FEMA application assistance process, that's a tangible way that people can continue to be prepared for impacts pre-disaster.

>> You know, as I look across the landscape in our nation, there appears to be a growing degree of homelessness or houselessness in different urban areas.

How does the Department of Homeland Security see getting better prepared to handle the growing homelessness in America?

>> It's a good question.

So I think we've seen during Ida and as we continue to your point, experiencing through the pandemic, there's increased fragility of people's economic situation.

I say in a situation like this, from the center's perspective, we recognize and know, one, we're part of a larger federal family.

So we have actually a faith-based center in Housing and Urban Development keenly focused on this issue of homelessness, but also making sure that people and faith leaders have the tools to prevent evictions.

Right?

So we have the changing eviction moratorium.

I think the role when we talk about from a Department of Homeland Security perspective is making sure that we align and make clear how different organizations that are going to support those people that may be experiencing homelessness can get access to resources not just from organizations like Housing and Urban Development but Department of Labor, Department of Human -- Health and Human Services and others.

And so each one of those departments also has a center.

We work together collectively to help address some of those local issues that are often being led by, of course, our mayors and our council members and our aldermen.

It's those local elected officials that oftentimes are working closest with faith communities.

And our job is to support them in the work that they try to do to alleviate issues like homelessness.

>> Is there a particular website that people can go to get information on disaster preparedness and find out more information about the center that you direct for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships?

>> Absolutely.

If people are looking for specific preparedness information, ready.gov gives you all the information that you need for preparedness for yourself and for your organizations.

If you're a faith leader, you can connect with me any time at www.fema.gov/faith.

>> And you mentioned with HUD and some of the other federal agents also have places where faith-based communities can go to get assistance.

>> Absolutely.

It is a key tenet of the Biden administration when he re-established the office in February across our 11 centers to have focuses on a few key areas.

So we know that we're still in a pandemic, so we're still supporting COVID-19 pandemic vaccination efforts.

We recognize that people need access to increased opportunities for mobility on economic issues.

And then, of course, there's a lot of systemic inequalities, including systemic racism, and that's another area that we combat through our three centers and that ties all back to the executive order established by the President.

>> Are there opportunities for people of color to be employed, to get a job with the Department of Homeland Security?

>> Yes, and we need people to be employed with the Department of Homeland Security in all facets.

I often think when people think of public service, they only think of a few roles.

But if you're a finance person, if you're an accounting person, if you're a project manager, that's an area that I will be heavily invested in, in fact, was able to spend some time with several historically black colleges and universities in Atlanta, Georgia, and we're actually able to set up some agreements with some universities to help ensure that we strengthen that pipeline in national security and Homeland Security.

I'm a proud honoree of an organization called NextGen NatSec, and what that is is it's a collection of persons of color that represent all facets of national security.

And a key focus of ours is to help drive diversity in national security because we know the more diverse voices and perspectives we have at the table, the better our solutions can be to advance, or in some cases, prevent policies that would would harm people of color.

>> Marcus Tillman Coleman Jr., thank you for joining "The Chavis Chronicles."

>> Dr. Chavis, it was an honor.

Thank you very much.

>> Major funding for "The Chavis Chronicles" is provided by... Reynolds American, dedicated to building a better tomorrow for our employees and communities.

Reynolds stands against racism and discrimination in all forms and is committed to building a more diverse and inclusive workplace.

American Petroleum Institute -- through the core elements of API's Energy Excellence Program, our members are committed to accelerating safety, environmental and sustainability progress throughout the natural-gas and oil industry in the U.S. and around the world.

You can learn more at api.org/apiEnergyExcellence.

Over the next 10 years, Comcast is committing $1 billion to reach 50 million low-income Americans with the tools and resources they need to be ready for anything.

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