Rafael Perez, whom the National Association of REALTORS(r) designated 2022’s Fair Housing Champion frequently recounts his personal family’s experience of discrimination against housing to show how discrimination in the real estate industry can affect the wealth of generations.
Perez remembers that as a young boy and his parents were looking for an apartment for their growing family, but were turned off from purchasing the property by an agent who informed that, “This would not be a good place for your kids to grow up.”
This property is today in the millions.
Perez, an agent in real estate with Axia Real Estate Group, based in San Diego, helps Latino families to build wealth for generations via home ownership and helps those who were displaced by the development process to return to their neighborhoods of choice. Perez utilized his own experiences and shared his experiences to the attendees on Wednesday at the Congress Hispanic Caucus Institute’s 2023 Leadership Conference.
The panel discussion, titled “Building a Legacy: How Latino Families Can Secure Their Financial Future,” also included Luz Maria Vergara, who is senior vice president of Wells Fargo; John Jones senior vice president at Nareit; Jose Luis Briones, who manages public policy at Airbnb and Moderator Tonantzin Carmona, a fellow at the Brookings Institution.
Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (D-Texas) a member of the House Financial Services Committee, started the session by speaking about the importance of homeownership and financial literacy in promoting prosperity and economic mobility in Latino families. “We must instill financial literacy early in life,” He emphasized and echoed the goal to educate the next generation of financial literacy. NAR Chairman Tracy Kasper’s Ignite Other high school financial literacy program..
Perez highlighted that homeowners enjoy the “freedom and flexibility” that homeownership gives families, allowing homeowners to “lower their costs and increase their income.” Perez believes that the process must be further taken to allow families to invest the difference and profit from the full financial advantages.
The moment Carmona requested the participants to outline the priorities of policymakers to assist Latino families in accumulating wealth, the topic of affordability in housing was brought up first. Perez presented the results from an NAR report that revealed there is a U.S. is short by 5 million housing units that is a total of four trillion investment in the housing market that is not being invested. This plight is particularly detrimental to the most vulnerable and first-time home buyers the most.
“Anything that creates more inventory is where the solution lies,” Perez declared. He pointed to policies within his own state, California regarding zoning and the addition of dwelling units as an example of how the government can in constructing more homes and creating better opportunities for wealth creation.
Perez has a wealth of experience as a mortgage banker, a lender and teacher. He sits on the board of directors for the Pacific Southwest Association of REALTORS(r) as well as a member of the NAR’s Fair Housing Policy Committee and has served as the vice president for the San Diego chapter of the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals. He also has a hand in developing innovative solutions to housing supply as a board member of Casita Coalition. Casita Coalition.
“There was a historical injustice, and now we need to make things right,” Perez stated. “We should focus on empowering people from the community rather than just sprinkling some equity on it.”