Campaign to Boost O.C. Latino Home Ownership

National and local real estate professionals gathered in Santa Ana on Wednesday to kick off a nationwide campaign aimed at raising the rate of home ownership among local Latinos to the national level.

U.S. Census figures show that 39% of Orange County’s Latinos own their homes, compared with 46.7% of Latinos nationally and 67.7% for all Americans. The National Assn. of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals is spearheading an effort, called Close the Gap, to raise Latino home ownership rates.

The Santa Ana event was the first of 10 forums to be held across the country.

Among those supporting the effort are Citigroup, CitiMortgage Inc., RealEstateEspanol.com and Fannie Mae, a nonbank financial company that is committing $2 trillion over 10 years to increase home ownership rates among minority groups, young families and others whose home ownership rates lag the general population’s.