Black Homeownership in RI Is As Low As It Was in the 1960s
Sunday, January 02, 2022
The explosion of housing prices is building wealth quickly for homeowners in Rhode Island and is setting non-homeowners further and further behind.
The percentage of Blacks who own homes in Rhode Island now is as low as it was in the early 1960s.
One Rhode Islander who is calling for action in improving the rate of Black homeownership is not your usual advocate.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTNelson Taylor of Mott & Chace Sotheby’s International — one of the state’s leading upscale real estate groups — is calling attention to the issue and calling for change.
“It's unbelievable to me that Black homeownership is at an all-time low. it's disgraceful. You know systemic racism is a factor. They've never been given the same opportunities as white Americans,” said Taylor on GoLocal LIVE.
In Rhode Island, just 6% of homes are owned by Black households. And, becoming a new homeowner is ever more difficult as the prices of homes continue to spike. The median price of a single-family home is now $375,000 in Rhode Island.
The numbers are not improving despite the perception that economic opportunities for Blacks have improved over the past 60 years.
Homeownership for Blacks was at the same level as before the federal Civic Rights Act passed, redlining was commonplace and housing rights laws were non-existent.
“In fact, in the past 15 years, Black homeownership has seen the most dramatic drop of any racial or ethnic group, and the Black homeownership rate in 2019 had descended to nearly as low as it was when discrimination was legal,” according to the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC).
Homeownership Drives Wealth
In 2019, homeowners in the U.S. had a median net worth of $255,000, while renters had a net worth of just $6,300. That’s a difference of 40x between the two groups, according to the Survey of Consumer Finances, released in Sept. 2020 by the Federal Reserve.
Nationally and Locally -- Black Homeownership is Declining
In the second quarter of 2019, the Black homeownership rate dropped to 40.6%, down seven percentage points from roughly a decade earlier. It now hovers closer to 44%, while the white ownership rate is far higher (approximately 74%).
The Black homeownership is a significant drop in recent years. The rate rose from 41.9% in 1995 to 49.4% in 2004, an increase of 7.5 percentage points, but never in history has 50% of Black households owned a home.
In comparison 74% of white households own homes.
The NCRC is calling for a 20-year effort to push the percentage of Black households that own a home to 60%.
Need to Build the Number of Black Realtors
“The Black community was hit very hard in the 2008 crash -- another reminder that they potentially cannot trust the real estate world but as we know real estate is the great equalizer. Real estate is one of the biggest factors in personal and community stability and it's also one of the biggest factors in creating generational wealth," said Taylor.
He says that the lack of Black realtors is a major issue and is calling for change.
"Black people need more professionals in the housing world that they can trust. The amount of black real estate agents in this country percentage-wise is almost less than half than the percentage of black people in this country," said Taylor.
Taylor said real estate firms need to push to recruit and train more Blacks to join the ranks of firms like his and hopes other real estate firms will join and effort to improve the numbers.
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