Mysa Khasawneh, a Jordanian immigrant who had been renting for nearly twenty years, put down a deposit in October on a two-bedroom home on Columbus’s Far West Side.
Homeowner Khasawneh, who is a mother of four (including a special needs child), has been able to put the money she would have spent on rent toward her children’s future expenses.
For some time now, she has been offering informal advice to other ladies in the neighborhood who are Jordanian Americans and are considering property purchases.
Start small, I always encourage people. You still own it, regardless of how imperfect it is. Then you’ll be free to go. You can utilize the equity in this house as a down payment on a new home. Officials in the field of early childhood services, like Khasawneh, are seeing an uptick in business from members of their community.
A Dispatch examination of 2022 data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey shows that 59% of foreign-born Ohio citizens, including Khasawneh, are homeowners. While that’s lower than the almost 70% homeownership rate among Ohio’s native-born residents, the numbers also reveal that the homeownership rate among immigrants rises dramatically as their duration of stay in the US increases. The homeownership rate among immigrants who have lived in the U.S. for more than 30 years is more than 80% in Ohio.
Experts in housing and community leaders agree that homeownership is crucial to financial stability for many families, but they also note that immigrants face unique challenges and opportunities when trying to buy a home. Some factors come into play here, such as the availability of jobs, the money that immigrants amassed before immigration, the ease of obtaining loans, the possibility of obtaining citizenship, and the absence of housing discrimination.
Former chair of Ohio’s New African Immigrant Commission Ibrahima Sow said that purchasing a property is meaningful for many new Americans because it helps them feel more integrated into society and to belong.
Finding a permanent residence is a top priority for refugees and immigrants. According to Sow, “homeownership is a no-brainer” since it leads to financial security.
Homeownership among foreign-born residents ranks 35th in Ohio.
In terms of homeownership among states, Ohio ranks 27th for native-born residents and 35th for foreign-born residents, based on data from 2022. Both native-born and non-native Ohioans saw a drop in homeownership after the 2008 housing market meltdown, but both groups have been on the mend for a while now.
The Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University has published multiple articles written by Sharon Cornelissen concerning immigrant homeownership.
The resources that individuals bring to the property market are influenced by their migration histories, according to Cornelissen.
A computer programmer who immigrates after receiving a work visa may find it easier to become a homeowner than a refugee from a rural background. According to Sow, even immigrant professionals like doctors and lawyers often have trouble finding work that matches their abilities.
Potentially influencing immigrant homeownership is the degree to which changes in the housing market coincide with a person’s arrival in the United States.
Home prices and mortgage rates were substantially lower when Bhutanese refugees started resettling in Ohio in the late 2000s and early 2010s, according to Sudarshan Pyakurel, director of the organization Bhutanese Community of Central Ohio.
Pyakurel mentioned that he knew Bhutanese Nepalis who had relocated to Central Ohio from places like New Hampshire and Colorado due to the low cost of housing.
Credit availability, immigration restrictions, and prejudice are all factors that may make it difficult for immigrants to purchase a home.
Homeownership rates across Ohio’s largest foreign-born populations vary greatly, according to the Dispatch’s data analysis. across Somalia, the percentage is about 10%, while among Vietnam, it’s over 80%. All properties, whether owned outright or with a mortgage, are included in these rates.
According to Cornelissen, a big obstacle for some immigrants in their pursuit of housing is the availability of credit. Many immigrants to the United States do not have extensive credit histories in their home countries, and some come from cultures that frown upon using credit.
She made the statement that “credit score and building up a credit history is a key barrier for immigrants” when it comes to qualifying for inexpensive mortgages.
Somalis frequently favor Islamic financing when purchasing homes, according to Tariq Tarey, an American Somali who assists with refugee resettlement as director of new American programs at Jewish Family programs in Columbus. While he acknowledged that some banks do offer Islamic mortgages, he warned that doing so may add unnecessary complexity to the home-buying process and that interest is forbidden in Islam.
According to Tarey, some Somali Americans have invested in homes in East African cities such as Addis Abeba, Cairo, Nairobi, or elsewhere, while others have aspirations to purchase a property in their hometown.
“Some people (are) not ready to commit to buying a house in the US because they have strong feelings against raising a family here,” he stated.
According to Khasawneh, many Jordanian immigrants, particularly men, experience financial pressure to support relatives in Jordan, which can impede their ability to save for a down payment on a home.
According to Cornelissen, some individuals may be discouraged from buying a home because they do not have citizenship or permanent resident status.
This impacts not just those without legal status, but even professionals, such as Indian-born U.S. citizens on work visas, who are faced with the daunting prospect of waiting decades for a green card, a process fraught with uncertainty. According to Cornelissen, this could be the reason why, even though Indians are one of the wealthiest immigrant groups in Ohio, only about 51% of Indian-born Ohioans own a home.
“Not being shown as many units, or they’re being steered to kind of a specific location by their realtor, which fosters segregation,” Cornelissen added, referring to the fact that some immigrants may experience prejudice when purchasing a property.
Immigrant first-time homeowners may need further instruction on the technical parts of loans, insurance, and other technicalities, and some real estate salespeople are irritated with them, according to Sow.
But this, he said, is starting to change as an increasing number of refugees and immigrants enter the real estate industry. Their assistance can be invaluable to people in their community who are looking to buy a property, according to Sow. This includes immigrant homeowners like Khasawneh.
When one person paves the way, it becomes much easier for others in the community to follow suit, he explained.
“We’re immigrants,” replied Khasawneh. Our nation was abandoned by us. There, the majority of us were landowners. We want it to stay this way since this is our home and our property.
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