Before I wrote this, I asked the mortgage professionals on the Hispanic Homeownership Council if they had a real client story about how repeat credit-report charges are affecting families during the mortgage process — not a hypothetical, not a statistic, an actual deal. One story stood out, and with her permission, I want to lead with it.
The U.S. has faced a persistent housing shortage for more than a decade, and today the nation is short over 4 million homes. For many families, especially within the Hispanic community, homeownership is a symbol of the American Dream. Latinos have consistently driven household formations year over year, gaining 441,000 owner households in 2025 alone.
NAHREP 10 Discipline 7: Be politically savvy, because public policy matters. There’s a reason being politically savvy found its way into the NAHREP 10 wealth-building disciplines: public policy shapes everything. From gas prices and the cost of healthcare to the job market and economic mobility, policy decisions ripple through every part of our lives.
As Congress closes out the year, housing remains one of the few areas with genuine bipartisan interests. Unfortunately, it has also been one of the most procedurally stalled. Over the past several weeks, lawmakers in both chambers have released or advanced major housing packages, signaling a shared recognition that housing affordability and supply constraints are weighing heavily on households and the broader economy.
FHA loans are one of the most important paths to homeownership for many aspiring first-time homebuyers, especially Latino families. Unfortunately, the cost of mortgage insurance (MI) continues to place a significant burden on these borrowers, slowing the building of equity and adding thousands of dollars in lifetime costs
America’s housing supply and affordability crisis is amplified by an often-overlooked force: the rising cost of construction. Homebuilders face labor shortages, soaring material costs, supply chain disruptions, and tariffs that dramatically increase the price of building new homes.
Access to credit is one of the biggest hurdles families in the journey to becoming homeowners. Without it, even financially responsible buyers who pay their bills on time and save diligently can find themselves sidelined. For Latino families, who are more likely to be self-employed, work in cash-heavy industries, or have limited credit history, the challenge can be even greater.
Last week, the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee advanced the Reforming and Optimizing Access to Domestic (ROAD) Housing Act of 2025, the largest housing package introduced since the 2008 housing crisis. ROAD to Housing is comprised of 40 separate provisions, including 27 previously introduced bills, a staggering 23 of which have bipartisan support.
Immigration reform has long been a cornerstone of NAHREP’s policy priorities and a central pillar of the organization’s advocacy efforts. Not only are NAHREP members passionate about immigration policy, but immigrants play an essential role in the housing industry in terms of both supply and demand. In recent months, increased immigration enforcement, including massively expanded deportation efforts, has reiterated the urgency of this issue.
In the first installment of NAHREP’s 2025 Policy Priorities Webinar Series, David Garcia, Policy Director at Up for Growth, discussed the importance of zoning and land-use reform in addressing the housing supply and affordability crisis.