Homeownership in United States

United States

Housing is an essential component of health and well-being. Homeownership provides a sense of stability and safety by preventing frequent moves and minimizing the financial burdens associated with renting. Additionally, homeownership offers individuals an opportunity to build wealth for themselves and their families, which is a determinant of health and income inequality. Low-income households, in particular, may accumulate wealth more successfully through homeownership than through other means.

Homeownership is lower among: 

• Black and Hawaiian/Pacific Islander adults compared with white and Asian adults. Racial segregation and mortgage discrimination have historically kept Black Americans from purchasing houses. Low-income and racial/ethnic minority households are more likely to transition from owning back to renting than high-income white households and are less likely to regain ownership. 
• Younger adults compared with older adults.

Strategies to ensure greater access to homeownership include: 

• Providing information and knowledge about the homebuying process, especially to low-income and racial/ethnic minority households.
• Reforming the current federal tax policy to use a tax credit rather than a deduction, which would increase tax benefits from purchasing a house. 
• Expanding financial support for low-income homeowners to prevent them from transitioning back to renting. 
• Enforcing fair housing laws to protect racial/ethnic minority buyers from discrimination. 

Homeownership carries more risk for low-income homeowners than high-income homeowners. Policies made to encourage homeownership among low-income families require a foundation of protection against financial risk. Selling decisions need to be made fairly so that homeowners can finance their mortgage and generate a positive return.

Healthy People 2030 identifies housing instability as a key issue within the Economic Stability domain of the social determinants of health. 

Boehm, Thomas P., and Alan Schlottmann. Wealth Accumulation and Homeownership: Evidence for Low-Income Households. Cambridge, MA: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, December 2004. https://www.huduser.gov/publications/pdf/wealthaccumulationandhomeownership.pdf.

Carroll, Daniel R., and Ross Cohen-Kristiansen. “Evaluating Homeownership as the Solution to Wealth Inequality.” Economic Commentary (Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland), December 20, 2021, 1–7. https://doi.org/10.26509/frbc-ec-202122.

Herbert, Christopher E., Shannon Rieger, and Jonathan Spader. “Expanding Access to Homeownership as a Means of Fostering Residential Integration and Inclusion.” In A Shared Future: Fostering Communities of Inclusion in an Era of Inequality. Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, 2017. https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/media/imp/a_shared_future_expanding_access_to_homeownership_fostering_inclusion.pdf.

Krisberg, Kim. “Income Inequality: When Wealth Determines Health: Earnings Influential as Lifelong Social Determinant of Health.” The Nation’s Health 46, no. 8 (October 2016): 1–17.

Rolfe, Steve, Lisa Garnham, Jon Godwin, Isobel Anderson, Pete Seaman, and Cam Donaldson. “Housing as a Social Determinant of Health and Wellbeing: Developing an Empirically-Informed Realist Theoretical Framework.” BMC Public Health 20, no. 1 (December 2020): 1138. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-020-09224-0.

Turner, Margery, Rob Santos, Diane Levy, Doug Wissoker, Claudia Aranda, and Rob Pitingolo. “Housing Discrimination Against Racial and Ethnic Minorities 2012.” U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, June 2013.https://www.huduser.gov/portal/Publications/pdf/HUD-514_HDS2012.pdf.