New partnership called 'Own the HOU' created to help 5K minorities purchase homes by 2025

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Third Ward native Corisha Rogers moved into her own home six months ago.

She's the first in her family to own a home.

"It is an amazing feeling, and it's hopefully inspired my younger brother," she said.

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On Friday morning, local companies and governmental agencies announced a new partnership called "Own the HOU."

The goal is to combine resources to help 5,000 minority households, Houstonians like Rogers, buy their own homes by 2025.

"Homeownership is the quickest, easiest way of building assets and family's generational wealth, and we're losing out in our communities of color," Laura Jaramillo, executive director of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) Houston, said.

"When people are not aware of their rights, they're not aware of the laws in place to protect them," Marry Guerra, a HUD-certified housing counselor with Fifth Ward Community Redevelopment Corporation, explained.

"That's where we as housing counselors come in to let them know, 'That's not correct - you can't tell a single mother with a child that you can't live in a certain area,'" she said.

According to Rice University's Kinder Institute, rent prices in Houston increased 30% from 2015 to 2021.

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Fifty-one percent of renter households in Houston and Harris County are considered cost-burdened, meaning families spend more than 30% of their incomes on housing.

Before purchasing, Rogers worked with counselors with Fifth Ward Community Redevelopment Corporation for years.

"How do you build that credit score when they don't give you the opportunity to build that credit score? It was constant fighting trying to get the opportunity to build my credit from scratch," she explained. "It was two years of applications, homeowner classes, financial management classes, credit building."

RELATED: Affording home in Houston continues to be a challenge

It's no secret for many Houstonians it's tough to afford your first home. ABC13 started digging into this after looking at new data showing how much money a person has to make in order to afford a starter home in the Houston area.

It was a tough couple of years, but, she says, she's proof that homeownership is possible for anyone.

"In order to help my community, I have to help myself first, which is a thing I've had to learn coming down the road," she said.

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