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48 STRATEGIES TO OVERCOME THE HOMEOWNERSHIP DIVIDE A recent report by the Urban Institute entitled "A Five-Point Strategy for Reducing the Black Homeownership Gap," pointed out that the homeownership rate among African- Americans has seen the most dramatic drop of any racial or ethnic group since 2011—declining 5 percent compared to a mere 1 percent drop in white families, and with increases for Hispanic families. Data also found that the homeowner- ship rate of millennials in this demographic stands at 13 percent today compared with 37 per- cent for white millennials. In the past 15 years, homeownership rates for people of color have declined to levels not seen since the 1960s, when private race-based discrimination was legal, the report indicated. ough homeownership is the primary mode of wealth creation and more beneficial than renting from a financial perspective, there is an increasing loss of access to this wealth-building for African-Americans. Based on housing industry leaders' plans to explore areas ripe for policy intervention at both the national and local level during a planning grant from the National Association of Realtors and the National Association of Real Estate Brokers, the Urban Institute suggested five strat- egies to help address the issue. Firstly, it advocates understanding forces at the local level. e report stated that most metropolitan areas experienced a drop in home- ownership among this demographic in the past decade. Only four of the largest 31 metropolitan areas with more than 100,000 African-Ameri- can households seeing a marginal increase in the homeownership rate. Digging deeper into the causes of the decline as well as the environment in cities where their homeownership rates have increased, is an important step. e report also encourages examining specific market-based ap- proaches, including removing local-level barriers related to affordability and help more renters get on a pathway to becoming homeowners. Secondly, the report emphasized how pivotal addressing housing supply and finance chal- lenges are to bridging this gap. "We need to understand how the housing shortage and tight credit affect people and communities of color. And we need to quantify how preservation, rehabilitation, and construction of affordable housing, as well as access to small-dollar mort- gages, could improve the homeownership rate in local markets," the report reads. irdly, the report highlighted how efforts to enable renters to become homebuyers will increase African-American homeownership through analyzing how income is calculated in mortgage underwriting, stabilizing and broad- ening the reach of down payment assistance and low–down payment lending programs. Fourthly, the report calls for the strength- ening of government mortgage programs and bringing about needed reforms and improve- ments. It also cited the Federal Housing Administration and the US Department of Veterans Affairs, as two government mortgage insurance programs that play an outsized role in supporting homeownership for this population. Finally, sustaining homeownership through all economic cycles and keeping people in their homes after purchase is the key to building housing wealth. According to Urban Institute, there is a need to better understand how home- owners can use tools and programs to navigate all economic cycles, including taking a closer look at mortgage servicing and safe home equity lending products. e report also pointed out that "changing the course of such an enormous and entrenched problem will require intention, a renewed knowledge base, and the partnership of many stakeholders in the housing ecosystem." Sustaining homeownership through all economic cycles and keeping people in their homes after purchase is the key to building housing wealth.