The Myth of Home Ownership and Plunging African American Home Ownership Rates

In 1994, Black home ownership was at 42.3%. In 2004, it was 49.7%. It has now dropped to 46.7%.

The rise in home ownership rates was really pretty meteoric, and the drop is even steeper.

Dean Baker makes the point, which I agree with, that the idea that increased home ownership is a good in and of itself is a bad policy with significant negative consequences, or as he so eloquently puts it, "In other words, the big push to increase African American homeownership rates was in reality a big push to increase foreclosure rates among African American households, but the ideologues of homeownership were too blind to notice the impact of their policies."

Home ownership provides benefits, like the creation of equity, but it also adds significant risks to the equation. When something major breaks, roof, hvac, plumbing, the home owner can face SIGNIFICANT unanticipated expenses, and the downsides of foreclosure are worse than those of eviction.

This policy was a centerpiece of the conservative "Ownership Society", and it is having disastrous consequences, and it appears that these consequences will become more dire for the foreseeable future.