While homeownership is often viewed as a pathway to building wealth, a range of challenges can hinder its effectiveness, particularly for specific groups. These include financial burdens such as rising property taxes and ongoing maintenance costs, neighborhood-based appraisal disparities, and the need to meet family responsibilities. While increasing homeownership is critical to the region’s economic health, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to increasing homeownership in disinvested communities. 

In this episode of Trust Talks, host Matt Shomo, program manager for Homeownership & Home Equity at The Chicago Community Trust, is joined by Noreen Sugrue, research fellow at the Latino Policy Forum; Meegan Dugan Adell, director of New America Chicago; and Paul Hawkinson, co-founder of Transform Capital. Together, they examine some of the unique challenges homeowners in underinvested communities in the Chicago area face in converting homeownership into wealth.

This episode was produced by Juneteenth Productions and recorded at Little Black Pearl.