FHA Launches Education Initiative to Assist First Time Minority Home Buyers

New campaign focuses on markets in 16 communities nationwide.
RISMedia
The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Federal Housing Administration (FHA) has launched a public education campaign directed at first-time minority home buyers.

The radio and newspaper-based campaign will run in 16 markets targeting African American and Hispanic American communities. In addition, articles and editorials will be placed to help address barriers that minorities have faced on the road to homeownership.
This bilingual campaign is part of HUD’s continuing effort to meet the President’s challenge to create 5.5 million new minority homeowners by the end of the decade. Since the challenge was initiated in June 2002, 2.6 million minority families have joined the ranks of homeowners.

“We have to be able to price the product differently and structure the product differently in order to adapt the 70-year-old FHA program to today's mortgage market,” said Brian Montgomery, HUD’s Assistant Secretary for Housing and Federal Housing Commissioner. “The next step is to educate the public about how FHA is making it easier to become a homeowner.”

FHA, which has been providing mortgage insurance since 1934, has helped more than 33 million Americans acquire their new homes. The objective of the radio/outreach campaign is to acquaint first time minority homebuyers, of low to moderate income, with the quality and affordability of the FHA brand. The campaign also focuses on the dangers of predatory lending and the protective nature of FHA products.

The radio outreach will be heard on 78 stations in the 16 participating communities with some overlap in cities in California. The print campaign will reach a total of 91 newspapers.

The 16 communities participating in the initiative are: Atlanta, GA; Chicago, IL; Columbus, OH; Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX; Detroit, MI; Houston, TX; Las Vegas, NV; Los Angeles/Long Beach, CA; Miami, FL; Philadelphia, PA; Phoenix/Mesa, AZ; San Bernardino/Riverside, CA; St. Louis, MO; Tampa, FL and Washington, DC/Baltimore, MD.