Why Does It Matter?
Disparity in home ownership rates may indicate that systemic inequity exists.
While home ownership isn’t the best choice for every lifestyle, it can be a sign of economic vitality and investment. Barriers to home ownership include credit history, current income, cost of insurance (which may be higher for certain neighborhoods), unpredictable costs of home maintenance, and down payment requirements.
The significant differences among home ownership rates broken by race and ethnicity is a strong indicator that there are inequities present in our region. Our community’s history of how housing, highways, and roadways have been developed have created even greater disparity. While practices of redlining—when banks or other companies, and even the federal government, refused or limited loans based on the racial/ethnic make-up of geographic areas—and discriminatory language within housing deeds is now illegal, the remnants of those practices can still be felt within our community.