Northwest Indiana Reinvestment Alliance keeps homeowners on track
From a cluster of small offices in Hammond, Toyia Moore and her team at the Northwest Indiana Reinvestment Alliance are teaching people across Lake County how to manage their finances and, hopefully, own their own homes and businesses.
The agency, launched in 1989, works with banks and other lenders, county officials and other nonprofits on a sizable mission: improving the lives of Northwest Indiana residents through financial and small business education, so they can get affordable housing.
“Lake County has a big issue with housing,” Moore said. “Foreclosure numbers are increasing; evictions are increasing because the cost of living is increasing. It all boils down to financial education, awareness and resources.”
According to property data company ATTOM, Indiana was seventh in the nation for foreclosures in January.
NWIRA teaches people financial literacy, home ownership and much more, Moore said.
Affordable housing stock is relatively low, and many people struggle to find loans and other resources to get and keep their own homes, Moore said.
To help with that financial education, NWIRA deploys counselors, certified by the federal Housing and Urban Development department, across the area, holding financial literacy classes in Hammond, East Chicago, Gary and more locations.
NWIRA has been a HUD-certified counseling agency since 2008.
“We try to be in the community,” Moore said. “We’re doing classes, counseling or any kinds of services. We can come to you if you have the space.”
The bottom line is NWIRA focuses on trying to put and keep people in their own homes, Moore said. Many times, that’s meant working on individual residents’ housing problems, including contacting lenders to help homeowners get out of a financial jam, like avoiding foreclosures.
“We’re big on housing,” she said. “We’ll do whatever it takes to keep people in their homes.”
Building partnerships with housing- and lending-related organizations has been critical, Moore said. The NWIRA holds a quarterly bankers council, when a dozen local banks meet and hear from community-based organizations seeking housing and lending support.
NWIRA also hosts the monthly meetings of the Lake County Housing Task Force, where banks, local and county government officials and nonprofit leaders discuss housing, eviction rates and other issues.
“We’re a convener,” Moore said of the NWIRA. “We do strategic collaborations. We get those groups together with people who need assistance and funding.”
NWIRA also is partnering with Prosperity Indiana to teach residents about their rights. Families often lose a key part of building generational wealth, passing on their homes to loved ones, because they did not protect those long-term investments with deeds, trusts and other vehicles.
Prosperity Indiana will offer free legal services to help people get those protection devices, so they can keep their homes in their families, Moore said.
NWIRA also is partnering with United Way of Northwest Indiana and Habitat for Humanity to provide post-home purchase counseling and guidance on handling property taxes and exemptions, maintenance classes, homeowners insurance, help for financial hardships and other services, Moore said.
When people are well housed and learn to properly manage their own finances, skills that have been absent from the state’s educational system until recently, they can open their minds up to even more possibilities, like owning their own small businesses, Moore said.
In 2017, NWIRA began connecting prospective business owners with lenders and others who can help them, Moore said. When people have reliable housing and start their own businesses, they contribute to a much stronger community, from schools to support other businesses and more, she added.
“Now, you can see other small businesses and how they were run,” Moore said. “Local banks also came out to help with micro-loans for businesses, and the banks began providing education to keep your business going.”
An important part of NWIRA’s work is letting people know help is available, especially when they fall on hard times, said NWIRA Board Member Chareice White.
“There’s a need, with the way the economy is now, with people losing jobs and being downsized, just having trouble being able to identify affordable housing, even struggling trying to afford it,” White said. “Toyia works really hard to educate people in the community.”
White said Moore’s partnerships with banks and her ability to find funding make her the right person to lead NWIRA.
“We want NWIRA to continue on the track to be able to provide resources in the community,” White said. ▪
Read more stories from the current issue of Northwest Indiana Business Magazine.
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