A community of 11 Burmese families has moved onto the same street in a Huntertown subdivision and 15 to 20 more families are expected to follow soon.
Pathfinder’s mission is to “strengthen communities primarily by enabling people facing physical, developmental or economic challenges to achieve independence, inclusion and stability.”
The agency has partnered with custom home builder Granite Ridge since 2002 to help qualified individuals become homeowners through special financing programs.
Last year, they helped 98 people close on a brand new home, primarily through the USDA 502 Direct Loan program. The program provides mortgage loans in rural areas to assist qualified individuals and households, whose gross adjusted income falls below the area median income, to purchase a home.
Low interest rates, minimal closing costs and longer mortgage terms make the loan program attractive to homebuyers.
“Things are booming,” said Justin Barker, director of the Pathfinder Home Ownership Center. “The housing market is in a really good state and people are oftentimes better off to build a home because it is so difficult right now to find an existing home.”
Pathfinder has been working with the Burmese community in northeast Indiana for about five years, Barker said, but the interest in home buying has exploded in the last year or two. The agency offers a home buyer education class taught in Burmese, and 52 people showed up for the class earlier this year.
Most families arrived in the U.S. as refugees and have lived in Fort Wayne for several years, renting apartments. Many are ready to take the next step, Barker said.
When potential home buyers come to Pathfinder, the agency helps them map out a path to homeownership. Pathfinder might work with individuals for two years to help them rebuild or establish credit for the first time before they qualify. Credit-wise, its Burmese clients are ready to qualify now or, at most, in a month or two, Barker said.
The loan program provides an affordable monthly payment and Granite Ridge homes qualify for an Energy Star waiver, which means lower utility bills for homeowners. It’s a “financial game changer” for families, Barker said.
“They’re building an asset while also staying within an affordable monthly payment and utility payment,” he said.
Teresa Hueber, executive housing manager at Granite Ridge, said Burmese customers’ strong employment history and work ethic have set them up for a successful home buying process.
“One of the things that we’ve observed with our first group of Burmese is how hard they work. Their employers would have nothing but good (things) to say about their work ethic. Our Burmese families get up at 3 or 4 o’clock in the morning and drive to [jobs in] Berne or Logansport,” she said.
Navigating the home-buying process
Home buying is new territory for these individuals, Barker said.
“When [they] wanted to have a house in one of the refugee camps, [they] literally went out and got the lumber [themselves] out of the woods and thatched the roof and built the home. Here, it’s so different and so there are so many things that they want to know and learn,” he said.
Language isn’t the only barrier to homeownership for the Burmese community; most are used to paying for things in cash, Barker said.
“Taking on debt is difficult for them,” he said.
When they see how much interest they could pay over the life of a loan, “that scares them,” said Hueber. However, Pathfinder explains that they can pay off their loan early.
Navigating a USDA 502 Direct Loan can be challenging even for an English speaker, Hueber said. The language barrier can add a layer of confusion, but Pathfinder and Granite Ridge are dedicated to going the extra mile to serve their customers, she said.
“I think we’re called to do that. Our company has a philosophy: We are called to serve others. I believe that’s why we build houses. It’s a basic need,” she said.
Moving into a new home involves many steps that most people take for granted but can be a challenge if you’re not a fluent English speaker, Hueber said. She has helped the new Huntertown residents set up their utilities, change their mailing addresses and enroll the children in school.
Burmese Community Specialist James Shwe joined Pathfinder as a full-time team member about a month ago to help assist with the demand for Burmese language services.
“[Burmese families] are delighted to understand the [home-buying] process,” he said.
Fort Wayne’s Burmese population stands at about 6,000 residents, according to the Burmese American Community Institute. Fort Wayne’s Burmese population is a diverse community with more than 100 dialects spoken among residents, Shwe said. Many families arrived in Fort Wayne from refugee camps in Thailand and Malaysia.
Barker said Shwe is able to build trust with Burmese families quickly because he knows what they have been through. Shwe and his family lived in a refugee camp for 21 years before arriving in Fort Wayne in 2008. Even though he could speak English, the family still suffered hardships. At one point, they thought they had made a mistake by coming — the American dream was not what they imagined.
“I understood later that God wanted me to get through all these experiences so that I would know what newcomers would need,” he said.
The demand for housing has been driven by referrals, Barker said.
“Word spreads like wildfire,” he said.
In Huntertown, the community of Burmese families living on the same street have been inseparable since leaving Myanmar. They lived in the same refugee camp in Malaysia and, after arriving in Fort Wayne, rented apartments close to one another. Now they own 11 houses on the same street.
Pathfinder and Granite Ridge are currently working to bring 15-20 more families to the Huntertown area and “that’s just the tip of the iceberg,” Hueber said.
Burmese families are attracted to the area for the quality and affordable homes as well as Northwest Allen County Schools’ ESL program, Hueber said.
The school corporation has welcomed the new students, she said. It offered a special elementary school night for Burmese parents to get to know their children’s teachers.
Pathfinder works with new homeowners to educate them on how to be a good neighbor – from where to put garbage cans and when to put them out for collection to appropriate colors to paint a home’s exterior.
In the future, Barker would also like to offer community dialogues about Burmese culture. He would like to assemble a panel of Burmese residents “who have gone through the hell of being a refugee and living in a refugee camp” to tell their stories.
“We couldn’t even imagine the difficulties these families have been through. For people in the States to just hear a couple of stories, you can’t help but have empathy and compassion,” he said.