William Michael Cunningham addresses Black Mortgage Industry Professionals

WASHINGTON - May 12, 2021 - PRLog -- William Michael Cunningham spoke to the 2021 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REAL ESTATE BROKERS (NAREB) Virtual Spring Policy Conference: The Economic Impact of the Pandemic on the Black Community.

His Economic Forecast perspective covered the following:

• Suggested a way to reduce the damage caused by COVID to Black Housing
• Recent policy developments covering the Federal Reserve and specific legislation  H.R. 2123 and H.R. 2543
• Artificial Intelligence, Black People and Mortgage Lending

Mr. Cunningham's presentation covered:

Minority Homeownership 1994 to 2020

Black homeownership remains at the lowest level. Meaningful, effective collaboration between minority groups unlikely, since they benefit from Black positioning.

Housing by Residential Structure, 2017.

Since Black homeownership remains at the lowest level, we tend to reside in multifamily structures,  increases infection risk during a pandemic.

Minority COVID Cases 2020.

High death, infection incidents mainly due to failure of health care access. Black homeownership rates  remains a factors, however.

In concluding his presentation, Mr. Cunningham emphasized that the key to survival is cooperation and collaboration. His analysis outlined the expected impacts of COVID-19 and ranked those impacts from most to least significant:

Health (95%). This is due to the lack of top-level hospitals in communities of color, a result of gentrification;
Education (90%) - This factor was identified as having the best opportunity for a fix through more equitable and creative educational opportunities;
Employment (75%) - We estimate Black unemployment hit 40% at peak. This is because Black people are the last hired, first fired. In addition, many Black Americans work in the restaurant, hotel and food service industries, which have been some of the hardest hit by the pandemic. Proposals to raise the minimum wage will help significantly;
Homeownership (50%) - Create a $100 billion HUD/FRB Black Housing EEM Fund. Use Fannie, Freddie, GNMA, FHA/VA as part of this process. Address appraisal issues, other factors. We suggest that the Fed engage with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to create energy efficient loan mortgage-backed securities (MBS) to help Black homebuyers;
Small Businesses (40%) - Lower than expected impact since Black business owners are equipped with better survival skills.

The highest social return factors were identified as:
1. Health
2. Education

For more on Mr. Cunningham, see: http://williammichaelcunningham.com/
For a copy of the presentation, see https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xM2_SL2ja3MPncbeYBH4NYGV...