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Mortgage servicing companies and related businesses
have worked to offer better diversity in their companies
for many years. Amid a year that has presented unique
and unexpected challenges on all fronts, that commitment
to celebrating, enabling, and supporting a diversity of
viewpoints has never been more critical.
e diversity movement seeks both
to offer greater opportunities within the
servicing industry and to promote a stronger
sense of inclusion for those who join the fold.
"Diversity is still a work in progress," said
Ulysses Smith, Head of Diversity, Inclusion,
and Belonging for Blend. "Many communities
have been left behind."
MILES TO GO BEFORE WE SLEEP
Historically, the housing market has left
some communities behind, and both those
trends and their lingering aftereffects can take
a long time to end, much less reverse, Smith
noted.
Homebuyers have been impacted, in part,
because many industry companies were not as
diverse as their customer base, Smith said.
"e barriers to entry were ridiculous. e
industry didn't make an effort to hire from
historically Black universities and colleges."
An increasing number of mortgage
industry companies, however, include their
Cover Story By: Phil Britt
ONE HOME,
MANY
BUILDERS