The Home Project - Racquel Russell
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Zillow Group is pledging $5 million over five years to address housing insecurity through their Home Project initiative. They aim to help people living paycheck to paycheck with little savings who fear eviction and have limited housing options. The Home Project will donate funds each quarter to nonprofits that help families with housing, and encourage employees and partners to volunteer their time or make contributions to support local housing nonprofits. The goal is to break the cycle of inequitable access to homeownership and wealth building through housing.
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The Home Project - Racquel Russell
- 1. THE HOME PROJECT: ZILLOW GROUP GIVES BACK Racquel Russell Senior Director, Government Relations and Public Affairs Zillow Group
- 2. BUILDING WEALTH THROUGH HOMEOWNERSHIP SOURCE: FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD SURVEY OF CONSUMER FINANCES, 1989-2016 51% OF THE TYPICAL AMERICAN’S TOTAL WEALTH IS TIED UP IN THEIR PRIMARY RESIDENCE
- 3. THE UNLEVEL PLAYING FIELD 67% 13% 13% 76% 9% 8% WHITE HISPANIC BLACK U.S. HOUSEHOLDS HOMEOWNERS SOURCE: ZILLOW ANALYSIS OF U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, CURRENT POPULATION SURVEY, 2016.
- 4. INCOME WHITE BLACK 60% WEALTH 5% THE UNLEVEL PLAYING FIELD SOURCE: “THE COLOR OF LAW”, ROTHSTEIN W.W. NORTON & COMPANY, INC. 2017.
- 5. HOW DO WE HELP EVERYONE BREAK THE CYCLE?
- 6. THE HOME PROJECT PLEDGING $5 MILLION OVER FIVE YEARS TO ADDRESS HOUSING INSECURITY
- 7. WHO paycheck to paycheck little or no savings fear of eviction limited options
- 8. PLATFORM WHAT PEOPLEPRODUCT $5 MILLION OVER FIVE YEARS
- 11. DONATE A PORTION OF A COMMISSION EACH QUARTER TO A NONPROFIT THAT HELPS PEOPLE/FAMILIES WITH HOUSING GET INVOLVED IN THE HOME PROJECT PARTNER WITH US TO PARTICIPATE IN A DAY OF SERVICE WITH A LOCAL NONPROFIT HELP A HARDER TO SERVE CLIENT BECOME A HOMEOWNER ADOPT A HOUSING NONPROFIT – CONTRIBUTIONS OR TIME
Editor's Notes
- Social impact efforts we have underway Peek behind the curtain on how we chose issues, why we think these issues are important and how you can get involved. Start with my personal story
- Transition Building wealth through homeownership isn’t unique to my mom of course. Just over half the total wealth accumulated by the typical American homeowner is tied up in their primary residence. With the percent of wealth stemming from primary residence even higher for Hispanic and black homeowners For many Americans, their home is their single largest financial asset. Like any significant investment, it offers a level financial stability and freedom. Here’s the rub, homeownership right now is not a level playing field
- Minorities are disproportionately underrepresented among today’s home buyers. Blacks and Hispanics who account for 13 percent each of all U.S. households, only account for 8 percent and 9 percent of U.S. homeowners, respectively.
- Why is this important? Wealth provides a freedom to put your kids through college, save for a rainy day or move your family to a community with greater oppty The typical family income of Blacks today is about 60 percent that of whites. But African Americans’ average wealth is just 5-6 percent that of whites. This data shines a light on a real issue in the U.S. when it comes to home. And as we began thinking about Zillow Group’s social impact work, these issues certainly came to mind. But this can’t be a conversation just about race.
- Transition The question we kept asking ourselves is, “How do we help everyone – regardless of ethnicity or economic situation – break the cycle of their circumstance so they can improve their lives?” And yes, part of it is helping more people who are ready become homeowners. But we wanted to take a step back because we felt as a company there was more that we could do. We know that renters don’t become homeowners until they have a level of security and financial stability in the place they currently call home. So how do we get more people to that place of security and stability? One thing became pretty clear to us – that if we were honest about breaking the cycle, we needed to help the most vulnerable among us.
- And from that, the home project was born. This morning, we announced The Home Project and pledged up to $5 million (cash and in-kind) to support those who are housing vulnerable.
- Help break the cycle Focus on those for whom home is a vulnerable concept Support people and families who are often just one paycheck, one medical event, one unexpected expense away, from losing their home.
- Partner with local nonprofits w/ financial contributions Not just about the financial commitment – we want to directly leverage our platform, our product and our people to make the Home Project success. People – not just our employees but our network of professionals across the country
- Example of Platform Best marketing, PR and research professionals – came together to highlight an important issue around housing insecurity In early August, we published groundbreaking research on rising rents in U.S. metros and its direct link to increased homelessness. Folks may have understood this link intuitively – but Zillow economists were able to develop a methodology to back this up with hard numbers and facts. Our PR team was able to get the research picked up in a number of papers and publications and our marketing team produced a video on this issue for social media that’s had more than 1.5 million viewers. Will continue using platform in creative ways to support those dealing with housing insecurity
- How you can get involved Entire Zillow Group community and network – including all of you. Community Pillar – launched a couple years ago – focused on rental network (landlords and property managers). If landlord agreed to relax their standard tenant screening process to help applicants with potential rental barrier obtain housing, they would receive the recognition of community pillar on Zillow. We provided a menu of options of standards a landlord could relax—such as low incomes, spotty credit scores, unemployment, or lack of housing references. We’re redesigning and expanding this program to be part of The Home Project and want to our most powerful network opportunities to become a Community Pillar. We’ll relaunch Community Pillar in 2018 with ways you can participate. And with your support of The Home Project, Zillow Group will support you with marketing materials and resources of your Community Pillar status.
- Some examples of how you can become a Community Pillar There will be a longer list but wanted to give you an idea.
- VOG transition – will intro Greg and Spencer to come up together