"Second Look is an innovative, automated underwriting system," says Center for NYC Neighborhoods CFO Natasha Pallan. "It can assist banks in reducing the cost and speeding the process of underwriting loans to families in the low- to middle-income bracket. And a key part of that is Black and Brown families."
Center for NYC Neighborhoods completed work on its Second Look innovation in December 2022, providing a tool for users to take a second look at denied mortgages. The team is using two computer programs to put Second Look into practice – Meridian Link to reissue credit reports and Form Free, which allows them to gather rental payments.
Second Look has been demoed and discussed with key partners, including the State of NY Mortgaging Agency (SONYMA), Fannie Mae, the Urban Institute, and HUD. Together, they have examined the challenges of using alternative credit data and the best approaches to incorporating that data into Underwriting for Good toward closing the racial wealth gap and increasing homeownership rates among people of color and people with modest means.
The Center’s key partners on Second Look included Decision Science Analytics and Mountain View Advisors.
A key aspect of MiCASiTA (which has evolved to become DreamBuild) is a financing component – education and a loan product – that allows families to grow their homes as their finances improve and to build equity through homeownership.
“Most people want a home for their kids – a beautiful home that they’re proud of,” says cdcb Director of Homeownership Linda Marín. “If a client is not financially able to get their dream home, we can start with something smaller and work toward getting to the dream.
MiCASiTA homes are built at a Brownsville, Texas, manufacturing site known as “the farm.” Production at the barn-like facility creates local jobs and minimizes the cost of transporting the modular homes to nearby communities.
Homes are slated to meet Enterprise Green Communities certification, and are built without proprietary materials, specialized machinery, or 3D printing. The delivery model is designed to be replicable and scaled to communities across the country.
Evelio and Gloria Palacios became the first family to move into a MiCASiTA home this spring, with more homes currently under construction.
cdcb and bcWORKSHOP have hosted two expansion summits to introduce the MiCASiTA model to housers from Appalachia, the Mississippi Delta, Indian Country, and the Gulf Coast. They also launched a manufacturing course this spring toward scaling the innovation to other markets.
