BLACKS, LATINOS LAG ON HOMES HELPING ECONOMIC SITUATION CALLED KEY.

Byline: Brent Hopkins Staff Writer

Despite political and business support to help minorities buy homes, a report released Wednesday found African-Americans and Hispanics still lag significantly behind whites in ownership rates.

More than three-quarters of whites own homes nationwide, according to the data released by the University of Southern California Lusk Center for Real Estate, while only half of African-Americans and 47 percent of Hispanics own their homes.

The study, which examines data for a 20-year period ending in 2001 and compares it with similar census data from 2004, said minority households are saving for homes but are still unable to purchase. Stuart Gabriel, director of the Lusk Center and co-author of the report, suggested that public policy should instead focus on improving minorities' economic situations, rather than coming up with new mortgage arrangements.

``We're not going to get that market closure in the gap until we see strong economic gains among minority populations,'' Gabriel said. ``The best housing policy may not be housing policy at all. It may be job training or education for minority communities. If you address that, bring up their socioeconomic status, the gap may disappear altogether.''

Politicians encourage minority homeownership to enhance neighborhood pride, civic involvement and reduce crime rates. Mortgage lenders and financial institutions track changing racial demographics and hope to get more customers from the growing minority population.

The study found that while a number of programs exist to provide minorities with loans that better suit their needs, they've yet to take advantage of them in large numbers.

In recent years, industry groups have made a number of moves to try to sign up more minority buyers. The California Association of Realtors now offers training to its members to educate them on selling to the Hispanic community, while mortgage lenders have offered outreach through African-American churches and offered financial literacy classes in Hispanic neighborhoods.

``As we're looking at the home buyers of today and tomorrow as the population changes, we need to be reaching out to communities that are becoming much more diverse,'' said Mary Salinas Duron, senior vice president for national multicultural sales for Calabasas-based Countrywide Home Loans. ``It's just good business and the type that we need to be in, because that's the future.''

Last year, Wells Fargo Home Mortgage opened 30 mortgage stores throughout the state specifically to serve African-American, Hispanic and Asian consumers. Locally, it added branches in Oxnard and Lake View Terrace.

``Every year, there will definitely be an increase (in minority homeownership), but we've got a long way to go,'' said Desolina Avila, regional emerging markets manager for Wells Fargo. ``We've got to get the word out that there's funds out there. No one industry can fix the problem; it's a holistic approach between private, public and nonprofits.''

Brent Hopkins, [phone]

brent.hopkins(at)dailynews.com