We caught up with Ayonna Blue Donald to discuss the potential – and limitations – to homeownership as a tool for wealth building.

So first, I would love to start with you. Who are you and how did you come into this work?

Ayonna: I was born and raised in the inner city of Detroit, my mom still lives in my childhood home. I came to Cleveland for college, moved around, and when I moved back to Cleveland, I worked in the Building and Housing Department as a temporary employee. I was bit by the housing bug, eventually became the department director, and continued my career at Enterprise Community Partners about four years ago. Currently, I am the Vice President of the Ohio Market for Enterprise Community Partners, a national community development nonprofit, in the Solutions Division. We develop programs that meet markets where they are.

Tell me more about how the Make It Home program works.

Ayonna: Let’s start from the beginning. Rocket Community Fund had a similar program in Detroit and came to us interested in Cleveland’s state forfeiture process and how to leverage the Cuyahoga County Land Bank. In Detroit, they transferred properties to owners, but they still had to pay the back taxes. In Ohio, we have a state forfeiture process and strong land banking laws, and a potential homeowner can get the property without any tax liens or encumbrances. We thought this could be a great wealth generating tool. An occupant could own their home rather than a delinquent landlord who was not paying their taxes. We modeled the program to suit Cleveland specifically. We’ve thought a lot about the needs of potential homeowners and partnerships in this program.

We are a legacy city. Most of our housing stock was built before 1950, almost 100 years old, and not in great condition. We are leveraging several funding sources, including American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars to deliver home repair grants. Becoming a home owner of a home that needs thousands of dollars of home repair, would not be the same  wealth building opportunity that we intended

We also included financial counseling and homeownership counseling for all prospective owners. We wanted people to be equipped financially for the responsibilities of owning a home and be able to sustain it. When your garbage disposal doesn’t work or your roof leaks, you have to fix that. Most people don’t have discretionary funds for those unexpected repairs. We didn’t want to set people up for financial ruin, so the program helps people prepare for these hurdles.

When I was at Building and Housing, I found that properties would sit vacant when someone dies.  Either the family doesn’t want to go through probate, there is no will, there are multifamily members to negotiate the outcome of the property, etc.. But if you leave the property to someone with a survivorship deed, it doesn’t have to go through probate. You can automatically transfer that property to the intended beneficiary at that one owner’s request. We purposefully partnered with The Legal Aid Society, to provide legal services to our new homeowners, to be able to protect their asset, for a generational wealth building opportunity.

You really incorporated holistic scaffolding for the program. So you wanted to reach 50 new homeowners. How is it going so far? 

Ayonna: We are working through a pipeline of interested homeowners. But sometimes it is hard because the program sounds too good to be true, when we’re offering thousands of dollars in support. Most of these properties are in redlined communities, and there’s a trauma response after seeing so many unfulfilled promises. One of our new homeowners said she prayed every Sunday that this was true, because so many bills of goods did not get delivered. We have outreach workers on our team who knock on the doors to have conversations with people, but it’s still amazing how many people are skeptical of the resources.

We also know not everyone is going to be a good fit. Some people are not interested in homeownership, because not everybody wants to be a property owner, or do not see the value of owning that home in Cleveland.

What does wealth and wealth building mean to you?

Ayonna: It’s important to recognize that building wealth means something different to a lot of people. For me, wealth is the ability to pass something on to someone else. You can have a wealth of wisdom or resources. It does not have to be cash in your bank account. Community development is knowing the value of the wealth of your community, what you have to give and offer to others. It could be your proximity to the lake or to public transportation. What is that special thing that you’re sitting on? A home is just one form of wealth that you can pass on as a legacy to your children. We all have wealth; we just have to figure out what that is.

In its best sense, how do you see homeownership as a tool for wealth building, and how does that impact equitable community development?

Ayonna: When you have stable housing, then you have a stable community. One thing that we share across humanity is that we all need somewhere to live. Even if the conditions are not good or permanent, you still lay your head somewhere. We can’t build a community without people, and those people need somewhere to stay.

Even though it may be against the law, people still exclude renters based on race, class, or source of income. On the policy and advocacy side of our work, I heard from one person re-entering society that they had been home for 20 years, but still could not apply for an apartment because they had to check the box, and their involvement with the criminal legal system excluded them from renting. Homeownership is a bit different. When somebody else owns your home, they control you. Having ownership gives you control. There’s power behind that.

Ultimately, the homeownership rate for Black families across our city is about 35% and for white families it is over 70%. It’s just basic math. You extrapolate across our country and see a large disparity in net worth too. Knowing that disparity, owning a home is a great start to wealth building in our country.

Ayonna Blue Donald leads Enterprise’s work across Ohio, advancing housing-based programs and creative policy solutions that help Ohioans achieve housing stability and economic mobility. A longtime public servant, Ayonna served as director of the city of Cleveland’s Department of Building and Housing and the chief of Commercial Services and Governmental Affairs for the Department of Port Control.