In the United States, Black buyers have been severely underrepresented in the latest real-estate boom. We believe this is due to a range of factors - most of them historical - that have set up institutional barriers to homeownership for this demographic. The rate hasn’t increased since 1990, the year this publication’s editor was born.

Thirty-one years of decline presents a serious problem to be dealt with, and urgently. Economic independence opens the door to all other forms of justice. Prosperity is a pre-condition of true security and independence. All of these factors are beyond the control or effort of one person or organization, and require the coordination of millions.

Creating the racial wealth and ownership gap was a highly organized and data-driven affair; undoing it must also be.

The Real Estate Desk is proud to launch with something immediately useful in this context: The Lenders List. This is a list of Black and POC-owned mortgage lending institutions in the United States. This list will update continuously as our research team finds and investigates new leads.1