Owning a home has been a major part of the American dream for generations now. Today, while the “white picket fence” has been replaced by sliding barn doors and open concept floorplans, owning a home is still at the top of the bucket list for the majority of Americans.
However, for the Black community, owning a home means so much more.
Why does homeownership matter to the Black community?
Generations upon generations of Black Americans have fought tooth and nail to be equal in this country, to have a seat at the table, to obtain an equal education, and to be paid the same as Whites for the same amount of work. African Americans have fought to build an inheritance that can be passed down to the next generation and afford them a better life than those before them.
Yet, in 2021, after hundreds of years of oppression, Civil Rights Movements, etc., slogans like “Black Lives Matter” are still trending and Blacks—along with other minority groups—are still struggling to find equal footing and social equality to Whites.
Homeownership matters to Blacks because of what owning a home represents symbolically.
It’s no secret that America was built on the backs of slaves. Owning a home is an opportunity to own land and soil that was once drenched in the blood, sweat, and tears of our ancestors, many of whose names we will never know. On this land and in a country where so many of our ancestral families were forcibly separated and scattered throughout, our families can now unite and form new, beautiful memories that will be passed down generationally.
Black Homeownership Matters because of the opportunities it provides.
Countless real estate investors and financial advisors attest to the advantages of homeownership. Owning a home is an excellent way to gain wealth. Upon building equity, a home can also be used to access capital to start a business, purchase additional real estate, pursue education or make other life improvements through refinancing or selling.
In some markets, purchasing a home can make all the difference in what schools children are able to attend and may even give them access to better parks, libraries, well-lit streets, and other amenities that improve their quality of life.
Black homeownership matters because of what owning a home represents historically.
In 1862, the Homestead Act was passed giving American citizens access to land grants for farmland. But because slavery was not yet abolished, African Americans were not afforded these rights until 1865 and after the passing of the 14th amendment in 1866. We were promised 40 acres and a mule, which could have helped equal the playing field, yet received nothing. Instead, this land was given back to the confederate farmers who previously owned it.
It wasn’t until 1958 that the Fair Housing Act, which prevents housing discrimination on the basis of race, was passed. Even then, during the Civil Rights era, Blacks repeatedly had their homes bombed, set on fire, etc. When Blacks were able to secure real estate in prime locations, such as Central Park, or build flourishing communities like in Black Tulsa or Rosewood, their properties were either taken by eminent domain, looting, violence, or gentrification.
Today, we continue to see gentrification in predominantly Black neighborhoods like Inglewood, Harlem, Queens, Brooklyn, Atlanta, and more. For some, owning a home is a nod to our ancestors who fought so hard to position us to own property, obtain an education, vote and also build wealth.
Black homeownership matters because we no longer simply want a seat at the table, we want to own the table itself.
Blacks face rental discrimination, wrongful evictions, unfair rent increases, being priced out of historically Black neighborhoods due to gentrification, and more. While African Americans still face considerable mortgage discrimination when applying for a loan to purchase a home, being able to purchase and own a property affords a sense of security, safety, and freedom that renting does not.
Black homeownership matters because according to The Road to Zero Wealth, if current wealth trends persist, the median wealth for Black Americans will fall to zero by 2053.
We know that home buying is a wealth-building activity. To date only 44% of Blacks currently own homes. If we’d like to prevent this from occurring, we must build our wealth. In order to be a part of the solution, LEGACY plans to lend $1 billion to African American homebuyers by 2023. Read this white paper by LEGACY’s very own Nick Gouche, to learn more about how we aim to solve this problem.
Maya Angelou put it best when she so eloquently stated, “The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.”
Why does homeownership matter to you?
