PHOENIX (By Yvonne Wingett, Arizona Republic) August 20, 2004 - Hispanics struggle more than other Americans to find affordable homes and are more likely to live in overcrowded homes in poor conditions, a Hispanic civic-rights organization says.

Though home ownership among Latinos increased during the 1990s, affordability continues to be a problem nationwide as housing costs rise faster than income, according to a statistical brief from the National Council of La Raza.

In Arizona, the homeownership rate for Hispanics is 16.3 percentage points less than among Anglos, the study says.

"It's better than the national average (a gap of 28 percentage points), but still not very good," said Janis Bowdler, a policy analyst at La Raza. "It's surprising, because I would've thought Arizona would've been on the forefront of getting Latinos into homes."

"Rising levels of discrimination" and lack of relationships with financial institutions are among the obstacles Latinos face when shopping for homes, the La Raza brief said.

Owning a home is the top wealth-builder for families, La Raza and housing experts say. It allows families to accumulate assets and many times is reflective of other financial and educational opportunities, they say. Families that can't afford good homes can be pushed into substandard housing, which destabilizes school districts and can cost taxpayers more through social services, Phoenix officials say.

After years of saving money, 41-year-old bus boy Oscar Salazar bought his first home. The three-bedroom house near Baseline Road and Third Avenue represents a chapter of Salazar's American dream. In January, with the help of Acorn Housing Corp. in central Phoenix and the Arizona Family Housing Fund, Salazar moved in.

"In the past it was really hard because . . . we don't make really good money," said Salazar, originally from Sinaloa, Mexico. "It means a lot because I have a child, and I want a house for him to be stable."

Although housing problems decreased slightly, more than twice the number of Latinos compared with Anglos reported problems with building quality, according to the report.

Hispanic families often live in poor-quality homes or crowd many people into one unit to share costs and keep expenses down, it says. Latinos often live in buildings plagued with plumbing, heating or electrical problems.

La Raza, the largest Hispanic civil-rights organization in the nation, is calling on private industries and public agencies to address what it calls an "affordable housing crisis."

The non-profit Stardust Foundation partnered with Phoenix's mayor to better understand the affordable housing market and to help open the pool for first-time home buyers "of all walks of life," Mayor Phil Gordon said. Martin Nowakowski, a senior assistant to Gordon, will work on developing strategies to lower barriers for affordable housing.

"It's needed all over," said Joann Hauger, executive director of Phoenix-based Community Housing Resources of Arizona, a La Raza affiliate. "It's especially important that it be located where lower income people and Hispanics work, (like) the inner city area near downtown. It's very difficult for people who have limited income and not very reliable transportation to get to where the affordable housing is on the outskirts of the Valley."