ORO Impact Revolutionizes Black Homeownership In America With Down Payment Assistance Platform
ORO Impact, a social impact fintech company, has recently launched a down payment assistance (DPA) platform to transform homeownership throughout the US.
ORO Impact
The company addresses two national challenges, the first being down payment affordability has put homeownership outreach for many Americans.
Secondly, employee tenure is at record lows as employers struggle to attract and retain employees.
Homeownership currently reflects racial inequity, with rates for African American and Latino households lagging the national median by 22% and 15%, according to Black News.
In many parts of the country, African American homeownership rates are lower today than in the 1960s, when housing discrimination on race was legal.
ORO Impact will offer down payment assistance programs that will fit the company’s needs by arranging forgivable, repayable loans through a piece of the home’s appreciation.
Additionally, it will provide employees with resources beneficial to first-time home buyers and grant them access to credit repair if needed.
ORO Impact has partnered with Liberty Bank and Trust – one of the largest Black-owned financial institutions in the US, as one of its primary lending partners.
Meet George Fatheree
George Fatheree founded ORO Impact to make it easy for employees to make loans to their employees, which they can then use to make down payments on homes.
Fatheree is most notably recognized for securing the 2022 landmark return of the Bruce’s Beach property – an African-American beach resort in Manhattan Beach.
This marked the first time in US history that the government has returned property taken by racially motivated eminent domain.
Fatheree told Black News that after helping the Bruce family recover its land, he began hearing from African American families across the country who had lost their property.
“I was able to see firsthand the tremendous impact that home and property ownership have on a family’s ability to create intergenerational wealth,” he said.
“We started ORO Impact to address this need and help more Americans build wealth through homeownership.”
