An Indigenous real estate agent says that when it comes to home ownership in Alberta, there is a disparity between the number of Indigenous and non-Indigenous buyers.
He wants to change that.
Jason Johnson, a member of Piikani Nation, says that when he received his real estate license in 2021, he realized he was one of the few indigenous agents in the province.
Looking even further at home ownership, he says there are barriers facing homebuyers.
“There’s definitely a racial profile that some of us have highlighted … on a stage with a rental house,‘ I definitely feel stigmatized, ’” he said.
He says some agents get impatient with their clients which takes a little longer to make a decision.
Jason Johnson is hosting an information session this month for Indigenous people interested in buying real estate. (Submitted by Jason Johnson)
“It takes time, especially if you’re indigenous, with all the baggage and all the problems and the mistrust and mistrust and the evil that is there.”
Johnson is hosting an information session this month for Indigenous people interested in buying real estate.
“There seems to be hunger there with our people … the idea of ’maybe I could buy my own house’ maybe it never got to people, but it was always there.”
“If I can help someone else do it, I think it will make all the difference in the world,” he said.
Calgary activist and podcaster Michelle Robinson, who is Sahtu Dene, says Johnson offers an important performance.
“I hope other Indians see it and say, ‘Hey, I want to do that too,’ because again, that’s why we’re talking about representation.”
He says there are many myths that need to be dispelled about home ownership, but there are also many barriers.
Elisabeth Feltaous, a senior specialist in the research division of the Canadian Housing and Mortgage Corporation (CMHC), said Indigenous households are more likely to rent their homes and are less likely to own their homes compared to populations. non-indigenous people from all over the country.
This is according to indigenous-led research funded by CMHC based on 2016 census data.
In that year, 53% of Indigenous households owned their homes and 39% rented them, compared to 68% of non-Indigenous households who owned their homes and 31% of non-Indigenous households who owned their homes. they had it for rent.
For some Indians, the discrepancy will need more than one approach to resolve, while for others, home ownership has been relatively easy, Feltaous said.
“There are a variety of situations,” he said, noting that census data are not broken down by indigenous identity groups.
“There are additional barriers to accessing mortgage loans, there are additional barriers to accessing the insurance of those loans if it is a modern treaty,” he said.
Many groups have additional challenges in accessing adequate credit through their history of displacement and dispossession of their traditional lands, he said.
“It disrupts their education, alters their income. This historical context has caused intergenerational difficulties in accessing credit, trusting banks, trusting the financial system, but it has also put barriers in their way to access adequate financing.”
Johnson’s real estate session takes place at Piikani Powwow at the end of the month.