Friends,

One year ago, Mayor Muriel Bowser created the Black Homeownership StrikeForce to address the disproportionately low rates of Black homeownership in the District of Columbia versus White homeownership. At the time Mayor Bowser wrote:

For years, Black Americans in Washington, DC and across the nation were intentionally excluded from opportunities to purchase homes and build wealth. Today, the legacies of those discriminatory policies are reflected in homeownership rates and disparities in generational wealth. For example, in Washington, DC, while nearly 49 percent of white residents own their homes, only 34 percent of Black residents own their homes. We know, especially with the rise in housing costs, that in order to overcome these legacies, close racial wealth gaps, and ensure more longtime DC residents can stay and build wealth in DC, we must think and act boldly. (excerpt from Black Homeownership Strikeforce, October 2022).

This call to act boldly and do the critical work has been Yachad’s mission for three decades. Our healthy housing home remediation program continues to serve older Black homeowners and even more, first-time homebuyers, who after a few years are in need of support. Both older and newer Black homeowners hope to build wealth through their homes to pass on to future generations. How are we doing?

So far this year, Yachad completed extensive home repairs to 23 homes. We are currently working on another 13 homes, addressing roofing, plumbing, flooring issues and more. We are also replacing broken appliances and kitchen cabinets and countertops. Our partners, WIN and The 11th Street Bridge Park, hosted Yachad at several community meetings to help target our services to homeowners living in Wards 5, 6, 7 and 8, predominantly and historically, Black neighborhoods. 

In this season, as we reflect on the year behind us and the year ahead, we welcome your individual and collective support. We can all do more, give more and learn more to address obvious racial and equity disparities in our greater community. Let’s continue to act boldly b’Yachad in the year ahead.

L’Shana Tova– Happy new year 5784

Audrey Lyon

Executive Director

(To read the full report go to: Black Homeownership Strike Force)

The Work is Done for One DC Homeowner

As we reported throughout the year, we have been steadily addressing major water infiltration issues at the home of Bernadette Cowan-Wilson in Southeast, DC. You don’t have to live in a floodplain or in Florida to suffer the horrendous impact that water can have on a home.

Thank you to RestoreCorp, Roborant Construction Services and Palacios Inc., our fabulous general contractors. Thank you to our major funders for making this work, and more, possible: The Health Equity Fund, The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, The Inclusive Communities Fund and CAAB. 

Ms. Wilson's home is fully restored. She has realized more than a ten-fold increase in the home's value since she purchased her home in the mid-1980's. Health and wealth all within the four walls of her home.

Kitchen wall destroyed by water infiltration

Slow plumbing leak damages kitchen floor

Kitchen restored after water infiltration damaged walls and flooring. New appliances and cabinets increased the function and overall value of the home.

Words Do Matter, Especially Words of Appreciation

“Before and after” photos are a great way to highlight our work. However, this is not always possible for our clients as they have to make their homes open to us,again, and often during the work day. So out of respect, and with permission, we share with you instead, some of the unsolicited words of appreciation from families we have worked with recently.

“I want to thank you and every person within the YACHAD organization for giving me the opportunity to participate in such a wonderful program.

It has helped a great deal. I continue to be thankful each day as I look at the repairs that were done for me and my family. It has been such a blessing. Thank you so very much!!” - Karen Brown

“Thank you so much for all of your help and for Yachad's generous financial support with renovating my roof. Your help has value to me that I can't express! I know that I didn't meet every person who was involved with that project, but I would like to THANK everyone who helped with making this happen. I feel extreme gratitude for what you did for my boys and me and I know that my THANK YOU can't justify that. I will be grateful forever! " -Magdalena Elliott

“I was already thankful for how my day was going, and then to read your message? You, on behalf of Yachad, don't/can't know how much you've blessed me! I Thank God, through you, for this blessing!” - Deanne Lewis

The National Fair Housing Alliance Honors the 55th Anniversary of the Passage of the 1968 Fair Housing Act 

NFHA’s annual conference this summer was a mixture of celebration and concern over how much has been and still needs to be accomplished under the Fair Housing Act of 1968. Yachad Executive Director, Audrey Lyon, moderated a panel looking at Dr. King's Fair Housing Legacy: The Moral Imperative to Fight for Housing Equity and Inclusion. Faith-based nonprofits shared insights and challenges in their work to create and maintain decent and fair housing for Black and Brown households.