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Over the last few years, the housing industry has acknowledged a significant legacy
of housing discrimination and has emphasized addressing racial inequities. It is a high
priority for the Biden administration—which announced a comprehensive equity action
plan through the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD)—to help
close the racial homeownership gap. It's encouraging to see the strides the mortgage
industry and government are both making to correct the egregious injustices that have
led to disproportionately lower rates of homeownership for marginalized people. It is a
complex problem that will require systemic change across the entire housing ecosystem to
deconstruct deeply-rooted biases and barriers.
ose of us who work in this industry can
have a tangible impact on building a better
housing system for all by working to make
our own organizations more representative,
equitable, and inclusive.
ere is a severe underrepresentation of
diverse talent in the housing industry. According
to a study by Fannie Mae, less than 17% of
the housing industry workforce is Black and
Latino. As an industry, we need a more diverse
workforce and leadership that better reflects
the population we serve. It's critical that we
share best practices and lessons learned, so we
can iterate and accelerate the pace of progress
together.
In that spirit, below are some of the things
our organization has been working on to foster
diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) within
Radian and in the communities we serve. ese
are meant to serve as conversation-starters, not
recommendations or points of pride. Our goal is
to encourage you to speak up about the valuable
efforts underway at your organizations to further
the dialogue and help push our industry and
housing system forward.
REFLECTING
THE COMMUNITIES
WE SERVE
As the industry makes strides to increase homeownership for marginalized
individuals, the mortgage finance space must keep pace to meet the needs of
this group by enhancing its DEI efforts.
Feature By: Justin Foster
