Former non-profit worker Christine Hernandez had never considered becoming a housing attorney, but after 2015, when she got priced out of her home in Oakland, California, she thought a lot about the issue.
Over the next five years, Hernandez and her family went through a period of unstable housing, including nearly three years squatting. Then, last year, the landlord of the multi-unit house they were living in tried to push the tenants out.
As Hernandez researched ways to fight back, she found the Radical Real Estate Law School, a new initiative helping people become housing lawyers by having them apprentice with practicing
In a real estate market where only 6% of agents are Black, racial inequality has long been the norm, a problem made worse by the current housing crisis. But several groups are pushing back to make the market and the law more diverse and accessible.
Amid an affordability crisis and with the homeownership gap between white and Black Americans at its widest in 50 years, new programs are working to broaden the pool.