GreenState CU Helping to Close Homeownership Gap Among Black Homeowners

NORTH LIBERTY, IOWA —GreenState Credit Union, Iowa’s largest financial cooperative, announced today that through the first six months of 2021, GreenState is on track to close over $50 million in home loans to Black and African American members in 2021. Sustaining this growth through year end will represent a 67% increase year-over-year compared to 2020.  

This progress puts GreenState on track to hit the goal announced earlier this year to invest $500 million in mortgage lending to help close Iowa’s racial homeownership gap over the next decade. Additional products and services are under development to sustain this progress. 

“We are proud to report our initial results are incredibly promising, and we are just getting started,” states Jeff Disterhoft, President/CEO.

“Our Board of Directors is pleased with this progress, and we will continue to lead by example in addressing our state’s homeownership gap,” said Fred Mims, GreenState Board Chairman.  

According to a 2019 report by University of Iowa Professor Colin Gordon, Iowa has the sixth-largest homeownership gap between Black and white homeowners in the United States.  

To combat this homeowner gap, GreenState announced in January it would invest $500 million in dedicated mortgage lending over the next decade to help close Iowa’s racial homeownership gap, as a part of a broader “Community Investment Statement” adopted by the Board of Directors. Additional information about GreenState’s investment can be found online at:  

https://www.greenstate.org/connect/creating-lasting-value/community-investment-statement.html 

GreenState will be providing semi-annual updates about the progress on this work in the coming months and years.