By Analah Wallace | OBSERVER Staff Writer
The nonprofit CLTRE celebrated homeowners month with a “House Party” event June 20, where attendees toured the residences of five new homeowners across the Sacramento area.
The homes were bought by students in the CLTRE Keeper Homeownership Program, an eight-week initiative that coaches homeownership, finances, long-term stability and more.
Program director Ashley Garner said CLTRE Keeper arose from a need to help prevent displacement of local community members.
“It’s so prevalent in the underserved communities how we’re always displaced, we can’t afford to buy houses, there’s not a lot of knowledge about programs,” Garner said. “So I created a curriculum.”
CLTRE Keeper not only hosts one-on-one curated support with housing counselors, but also opens homeownership seminars to the public to help with understanding the housing market and how to financially manage preparing to buy a house.
“With the curriculum, they learned mindset, they learned how to budget, they learned how to use their credit, how to secure a realtor, and even how to secure the right price,” Garner said.
CLTRE was able to work with organizations like the Financial Empowerment Center and banks such as River City to help the new buyers improve their credit scores or secure low-interest loans. CLTRE partners and people working directly with the new homeowners were able to see the fruits of their labor by visiting the homes.
The event began with a reception at the CLTRE center in Oak Park. Attending homeowners, stakeholders, real estate agents and community members then boarded a charter bus to see the various newly bought homes.
Tadarius Mathis, whose home was toured, said the program helped him become the second person in his family to buy a house. He said he was happy to finally have a space to indulge in his car mechanics hobby.
Mathis said that while the process was difficult at first, the program’s culture and the support he received helped him emerge as a homeowner.
“I lost my dad in the process, I lost some work in the process,” Mathis said. “But I still was able to persevere with the supporting help. There was a whole big helping hand when I needed someone to talk to, and when I got it, I said OK, I can do this.’”
Roshaun Davis, CLTRE’s founder and executive director, said he started the organization after being displaced in Sacramento several times. He wanted to make a difference helping those impacted by displacement get back on their feet and inspire them to help fellow community members.
A tour of the new homes was Davis’ way of showcasing how helping community members can make a real difference, even if it feels small in scale. Davis said it was important to hold the event in a culturally relevant way, especially because a lot of local POC that implemented popular cultures (such as Hip-Hop culture) end up getting displaced in their own communities.
“The actual stories of the people that are in our program are so important,” Davis said. “Because it’s a microcosm, but if they can walk across this gap, it just gives hope for so many more people.”
Davis said 15 students have graduated from CLTRE Keeper and become homeowners, and the organization has the funding to support 75 more. Davis said he plans to make the event annual and that next year he hopes to have house parties in every new home CLTRE helps its students buy. To him, the company wouldn’t matter without the people who grew through the program and have their stories highlighted.
“It sounds cheesy but I’m gonna say it,” Davis said. “We leave the ‘u’ out of CLTRE on purpose because there is no culture without you.”CLTRE, located at 3433 Broadway, can be reached through its website and at cltre@cltre.org.