By DaQuan Lawrence
AFRO International Writer
DLawrence@afro.com
Black homebuyers are 1.7 times more likely to be denied a mortgage than all other racial groups in the nation, according to a recent study by LendingTree. Considering the historical trend of housing disenfranchisement and disproportionate racial homeownership, the AFRO spoke with policy experts about the implications of the phenomenon, ways to mitigate the situation as well as strategies for future homebuyers.
Based on U.S. Census figures, in 2020, the share of national homeownership varied by racial or ethnic group, with Black Americans comprising 7.9 percent, Hispanic Americans comprising 10.5 percent and Asian Americans representing 4.7 percent, compared to White Americans, who represented 73.1 percent of homeownership.
In October 2024, the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development released “Separate and Unequal Neighborhoods: A Baseline Report” which reported homeownership by race during 2020. The rate of African Americans homeownership was 52.6 percent, compared to 55 percent for Hispanic Americans and 78.5 percent of White Americans, respectively.
“Everything [from] redlining, exclusionary zoning laws, contracts for deeds, appraisal bias, discriminatory credit scoring and risk-based pricing systems to modern-day algorithmic bias, and more” are among the factors driving the disparities, Nikitra Bailey, executive vice president of the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA), told the AFRO.
At the beginning of the decade, Washington D.C.’s homeownership rate for Black households stood at 34 percent, compared to the 49 percent rate for White households, according to the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development in the District. To address the homeownership disparity in the nation’s capital, Mayor Muriel Bower announced a $10 million investment to increase Black homeownership and implemented a Black Homeownership Strike Force with a goal of creating 20,000 Black homeowners in D.C. by 2030.
While Bowser and other municipal and national leaders in the public sector continue efforts to close the gap in homeownership, public policy experts and advocates are working across public, private and civil society to reduce housing inequalities. The Black Homeownership Collaborative consists of partners from various sectors who are working to create new homeowners.
“The Black Homeownership Collaborative is driven by the ‘3 by 30’ campaign, which has made measurable progress and is considered a promising and impactful initiative,” Cy Richardson, senior vice president for programs at the National Urban League (NUL), told the AFRO.
“We seek to generate 3 million net new Black homeowners by 2030,” Richardson said. “However, we are not yet on track to fully meet our goal by 2030 without accelerated action and policy reinforcement.”
3 by 30 is a product of collaborators such as the NFHA, NUL and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, as well as the Mortgage Bankers Association, National Association for Realtors, National Housing Conference and the National Association of Real Estate Brokers.
“As one of the founding members of the collaborative, NFHA views the ‘3 by 30’ initiative as both a call to action and a coordinated policy and industry response to generations of exclusion,” Bailey told the AFRO. “That said, the road to achieving our goals has become more challenging in the current political environment.”
With funding provided by partners such as JPMorgan, Chase and Co., Bank of America, Wells Fargo, FHL Bank San Francisco, Rocket Mortgage and Airbnb, and research provided by the Urban Institute, the ambitious initiative consists of a seven-point plan to generate millions of Black homeowners by 2030.
“We’ve unearthed historical barriers like redlining and credit discrimination which continue to impact progress. Affordability issues and inventory shortages also disproportionately affect Black households,” Richardson said. “However, policy gaps and uneven implementation of supportive programs have really slowed momentum.”
Despite such challenges, Bailey mentioned that the ‘3 by 30’ movement remains vital as the nation experiences a fair and affordable housing crisis.