Authors Note

Addressing Racial Inequality in Homeownership: Dissecting the Crisis and Detangling the Divides in the Black Homeownership Gap

Problem Statement

According to Derenoncourt et al. (2021), the gap arising from racial wealth between white and black Americans represents the most remarkable economic gap within the U.S., as evident in a general decline in the wealth ratio from 6 to 1 by the end of 2019. Additionally, the gap in homeowners and racial inequalities have escalated in the past decade. Although past scholars have explored the concept of the homeownership gap, there is relatively limited information concerning the historical and empirical evolution of racial inequality in homeownership and the increasing gap between the black and white communities. In further support of the findings from Derenoncourt et al. (2021), Vandenbroucke (2019) reiterated the existing constraints which prevent homeownership among blacks and exacerbate the wealth gap in the U.S. The decline was further captured by Acolin et al. (2016), who emphasized the declining homeownership trend, especially for the black community, as evident in the approximate decline by at least 2.3% between 2010 and 2013. Based on the research gaps arising from the reviewed literature, the increasing homeownership gap between whites and blacks negatively affects the black community, which justifies the need for measures to eliminate barriers to wealth equality.
The perspectives from the past literature (Derenoncourt et al., 2021; Acolin et al. (2016) reveal the severity of the problem of the homeownership gap, which negatively impacts the black community in the U.S., thereby justifying the necessity to critically investigate the barriers to equality in homeownership and related variables which exacerbate the gap in homeownership for blacks compared to the white community across the U.S. Therefore, the research gap is a notable concern that requires urgent reform measures, hence disclosing the utility of the proposed research investigating the various variables that exacerbate racial inequality in homeownership.

Purpose Statement

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive exploratory study is to investigate racial inequality in homeownership between the blacks and the white community in the U.S. by dissecting the crisis and detangling the divides in the black homeownership gap. Principally, the proposed research tackles the following research questions:

“How has the gap in homeownership between the blacks and the white community contributed towards racial inequality in the U.S. housing market?” What specific variables have contributed to the homeownership gap?

Overall, the findings of the proposed research will contribute towards policy implications and additional measures to eradicate racial wealth inequalities in the U.S.