Resources - Keys Unlock Dreams

Homeownership Resources

The Keys Unlock Dreams Initiative focuses on creating the right tools and resources to expand sustainable affordable housing opportunities and create thriving, well-resourced communities. We provide excellent resources for Consumers and Homebuyers, Government Agencies, and Industry leaders and partners.

Consumers & Homebuyers

How much can you afford?

Once you determine you’re ready to be a homeowner and in a financial position to buy a home, you can figure out how much you can afford to spend on a house.

Freddie Mac DPA One

Freddie Mac’s DPA One is a free online resource to help you quickly find, understand and match down payment assistance (DPA) programs for borrowers.

The Black Connect: Housing Industry & Black Homeownership

The National Fair Housing Alliance is working hard to increase the homeownership rate for Black and Latino communities through our Keys Unlock Dreams Initiative and has created a number of resources and tips for consumers who are looking to attain homeownership and build intergenerational wealth.

OUR AMERICA: LOWBALLED

Black and Latino families have had their homes appraised for up to $500,000 less than expected, and race has shown to play a significant factor. ABC documentary “Our America: Lowballed” raises awareness on this systemic issue.

NFHA and MBA Launch Online Toolkit to Help Lenders Develop Special Purpose Credit Programs for Underserved Communities

The National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) and Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) announced a new online toolkit for mortgage lenders interested in developing Special Purpose Credit Programs (SPCPs).

NFHA launches Frontdoor Interactive Web Service to Connect Renters to Assistance

The National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) has developed an interactive web service that quickly connects renters who need support to pay their rent or utilities to programs that can provide assistance, addressing a problem that has become more acute because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic dislocation that followed it.

Homebuyer Toolkit

The Keys Unlock Dreams Homebuyer Toolkit will take readers through the process of buying a home from financial readiness and knowing your rights to finding a Realtor and closing the sale.

Fair Housing in Jeopardy: Trump Administration Undermines Critical Tools for Achieving Racial Equity

The adverse COVID health outcomes for people of color, and especially for Black Americans, are a manifestation of segregation and absence of opportunity in neighborhoods of color.

Industry Partners

Freddie Mac DPA One

Freddie Mac’s DPA One is a free online resource to help you quickly find, understand and match down payment assistance (DPA) programs for borrowers.

Black Homeownership: <em>Using Data to Navigate the Road to Equity</em>

Black Homeownership: Using Data to Navigate the Road to Equity

This brief offers a dashboard to guide stakeholders working to close the racial homeownership gap by increasing the number of Black homeowners.

KUDI Impact Statement

This 2022 Keys Unlock Dreams Initiative Impact Statement details the successes of the program.

OUR AMERICA: LOWBALLED

Opinion: The Black-White homeownership gap is wider than it was in the ’60s. Here’s how to close it (CNN Business)

This opinion piece offers solutions to closing the long-standing Black-white homeownership gap.

Special Purpose Credit Programs Virtual Forum Overview

On September 1, 2021, the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA), in partnership with Urban Institute and the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), hosted a virtual forum on Special Purpose Credit Programs (SPCPs). This event was intended to provide the audience with an overview of SPCPs and a clear understanding of the barriers to credit access and who is most affected by those barriers.

Groundbreaking Report Identifies Bias and Systemic Barriers in Real Estate Appraisals

Racial discrimination in home appraisals continues to affect Black and Latino homeowners throughout our country, and a new federally-commissioned report from the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) identifies recommendations to address this crisis.

Racial Homeownership Rates Vary across the Most Commonly Cited Datasets. When and Why Should You Use Different Ones?

Racial disparities in the housing market have been stark for nearly a century. Because of the pervasive influence of structural racism, people of color have experienced the greatest barriers to accessing and maintaining homeownership. Read about how data can be used to help close the gap.

Jurisdictions & Government

Homeownership in Assessments of Fair Housing

The 1968 Fair Housing Act requires the federal government to affirmatively further fair housing (AFFH), with the goal of ending discrimination and achieving equitable access to housing—including homeownership. Learn about how AFFH is a powerful tool to help address the homeownership gap.

Reclaiming Vacant Houses & Preventing Foreclosure

How can communities and local governments turn the tide on vacant and so-called “zombie” homes (those caught in foreclosure limbo) that drive crime, sap the resources of municipalities and undermine most significantly the wellbeing of Black and brown people and their neighborhoods? A report from LISC, in collaboration with Urban Institute, describes in concrete detail how a New York State law, proceeds from an Attorney General settlement with banks responsible for the foreclosure crisis, and a groundbreaking initiative stewarded by LISC have helped municipalities across New York State do just that.

Not Okay? That’s Okay.

A coalition organized by the Urban Institute came together to pool their knowledge and resources behind an initiative called COVID Help for Home and an advertising campaign featuring their slogan: “Not OK? That’s OK.”

What Modern-Day Housing Discrimination Looks Like: A Conversation With the National Fair Housing Alliance

For many Americans, housing discrimination is a fact of life. Redlining and other policies and practices have contributed to a widening in the black-white homeownership rate gap over the past century, despite legal protections that apply by race and 11 other legally protected designations.

Inequality Lingers

In commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the Fair Housing Act, Trulia is proud to partner with the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) to spotlight the importance of fair housing and the work that remains to achieve housing equity.

Keys Unlock Dreams: The Centrality of Housing to Building an Equitable Society

Homeownership has always been a part of the American Dream. Homeownership provides stable environments, it is essential for wealth-building, and grants greater access to quality education, employment, and resources.

The United States’ Staggering Racial Wealth Gap

The Racial Wealth Gap in the United States is worse today than it was before the passing of the Fair Housing Act in 1968. Black households in the U.S. are just as likely to own their home as they were in 1960.

Fair Housing in Jeopardy: Trump Administration Undermines Critical Tools for Achieving Racial Equity

The adverse COVID health outcomes for people of color, and especially for Black Americans, are a manifestation of segregation and absence of opportunity in neighborhoods of color.

Keys Unlock Dreams Initiative

Keys Unlock Dreams is a nationwide initiative led by the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA). NFHA is a national, civil rights organization established in 1988 to advance housing justice. NFHA has been working for over 30 years to eliminate all forms of housing discrimination and ensure that every community is well-resourced with the opportunities and amenities people need to thrive.

About Us