Homeownership rates in Illinois have decreased by more than 6% in the last 20 years. In addition, there are other challenges like high property taxes, and a big gap between house prices and household income. In 2024, the median listing price for homes in Illinois was approximately $316,613, while the median household income was around $79,180. [1]
At the same time, the complexity of factors mentioned above, along with property insurance costs, employment rates, and inflation, make navigating the housing market challenging. The lack of affordable housing remains the biggest hurdle for most first-time buyers. Building enough affordable homes would be the obvious fix, but the scope of the challenge means progress would be slow, measured in years, if not decades.
As housing affordability worsens, credit unions are in a unique position to empower their communities with effective strategies to help individuals with low and moderate incomes become homeowners. In fact, several credit unions are pioneering new ways to help under-resourced buyers enter the housing market and start building generational wealth. Understandably, often credit union mortgage professionals lack the time and resources to develop programs that enable them to lend deeper in their local markets.
If your credit union has an existing mortgage program and is ready to increase your impact, Inclusiv can help you master key components of high-impact mortgage lending that incorporate best practices developed by credit unions. Inclusiv, a national network of credit unions that partners with the Illinois Credit Union League (ICUL), offers a virtual High-Impact Mortgage Lending course that supports credit unions to expand their mortgage lending programs to better serve their communities, including low- and moderate-income members.
Through skills-development, tools, and strategies, the High-Impact Mortgage Lending course equips credit unions to grow your mortgage lending program and reach new borrowers. In this course, participants will:
1. Define the basic components of mortgage lending programs, such as property types, mortgage types, underwriting basics, and risk pricing.
2. Identify the opportunities, stakeholders, and actors involved in the implementation or expansion of a high-impact mortgage lending program in their credit unions, including accessible lending products for under-resourced borrowers.
3. Explain the NCUA’s regulatory framework for mortgage lending programs.
4. Describe the key steps in the implementation of full-cycle mortgage lending, focused on low- and moderate-income communities and the property types that meet their needs best.
5. Recognize and evaluate opportunities to implement credit enhancements, financial counseling, and secondary market options in lending strategies.
6. Use appropriate processes and workflow to apply an in-depth review of alternative documentation in compliance with regulatory frameworks.
7. Develop a Program Analysis for growing a High-Impact Mortgage program, tailored to the individual needs of each credit union.
If you’re interested in exploring more about this course, Inclusiv is pleased to offer ICUL members a special Learning Center discount. The next High-Impact Mortgage Lending training cohort starts on August 13.
When you’re ready to enroll in the course, use code ICUL for 25% off of tuition. Learn more about the course and enroll with your discount code here.
About Inclusiv’s Learning Center
Inclusiv offers free and paid training and tools to help credit unions build internal capacity, launch new loan products, and serve untapped markets. Courses focus on mortgage lending, small business lending, clean energy lending, and financial inclusion. View the full course catalog: https://training.inclusiv.org/
