Stay Connected
Atlanta Black Star/Politics/National
NationalNewsRace

D.C. Tops List In Homeownership Rates Among Blacks, Latinos

Posted byBy Tanasia Kenney | Published on: CommentsComments (0)

A new Trulia report shows that Black homeownership rates improved the most in Washington, D.C. between 1990 and 2015. (Photo by Roberto Westbrook/Blend Images/Getty Images)

The national gap in homeownership rates between all households and Black and Latino households has largely remained the same since 1970 — until now.

A recent report reviewing progress in nationwide homeownership rates by online real estate site Trulia revealed that the Washington D.C. area took the top spot for the largest increase in Black homeownership between 1990 and 2015, boasting a 9.6-percent rise, according to The Washington Post.

Homeownership among Latinos also saw a 10-percent increase during that same time period. The District now ranks fifth nationally for its progress in Latino homeownership.

In addition to the D.C. area, homeownership for Black households increased significantly in Northeast and Mid-Atlantic cities like Peabody, Mass., (9.3 points) and Fairfield County, Conn. (9.3 points), the Trulia report showed. Rust Belt cities like Troy, Mich., Grand Rapids, Mich., and Akron, Ohio, topped the list of metropolitan cities where Black homeownership decreased the most.

Using U.S. Census Bureau data, researchers investigated how housing opportunities have changed for underrepresented groups nationwide and in the U.S.’s 100 largest cities. The report examined factors impacting housing opportunity, including homeownership rates, residential segregation and affordability, to see how such opportunities have shifted for African-Americans and Latinos.

Ownership rates across all groups have remained relatively flat in recent years, but it was the housing crisis that stifled people’s ability to purchase a home. Homeownership among African-Americans took a particularly hard hit, declining significantly between 2000 and 2010, according to the report.

Other key findings of the Trulia report include:

  • The share of households that are rent burdened — spend 30 percent or more of their income on rent — increased after the housing crisis. More than 55 percent of Black and Latino households are rent burdened compared to 47 percent of all households.
  • Latino households saw double-digit increases in homeownership in Chicago (13.0 points), Hartford, Conn., (11.7 points) and Houston (11.7 points).
  • Residential Black-white segregation decreased in 94 of the largest 100 metros from 1980 to 2015, improving the most in the Florida metros of Fort Lauderdale, Sarasota and Cape Coral.

Democracy needs journalism it can trust.

This election season, the stakes are higher than usual — and so is the pressure on newsrooms to soften their coverage, stay quiet, or just disappear. Independent reporting, the kind that answers to readers instead of advertisers or political pressure, matters more in a moment like this, not less.

For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed independent and reader-funded. We have no corporate owner and no shareholders telling us what to cover or how to cover it. That independence is also our biggest vulnerability: nothing protects it except readers choosing to fund it directly.

Newspaper ad revenue has fallen more than 80% since 2005, and local newsrooms are closing at a rate of roughly two a week nationwide. When outlets go under in a moment like this, it's rarely the independent, reader-funded ones that get to stick around.

We know a request for support isn't why you came here. But without readers choosing to fund this work directly, the depth of reporting we can do at home and abroad shrinks along with everyone else's. If you're not in a position to give, that doesn't change how much we value you as a reader.

If you are able to, a recurring contribution does more for us than a single one-time gift, because it lets us plan the next investigation instead of just the next invoice. It takes about 30 seconds, no long form, no account. Thank you for continuing to support independent journalism and freedom of the press.

Give once Give monthly Support another way

Related Stories

Back to top