Tapped Out? Racial Disparities in Extrahousehold Kin Resources and the Loss of Homeownership
- PDF / 646,772 Bytes
- 26 Pages / 439.37 x 666.142 pts Page_size
- 106 Downloads / 161 Views
Tapped Out? Racial Disparities in Extrahousehold Kin Resources and the Loss of Homeownership Gregory Sharp 1 & Ellen Whitehead 2 & Matthew Hall 3 # Population Association of America 2020
Abstract Research shows that extrahousehold kin economic resources contribute to the racial gap in transitions into homeownership, but the extent to which these resources matter for racial disparities in exits from homeownership is less understood. Using longitudinal data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, 1984–2017, we examine the role of extrahousehold kin wealth and poverty in shaping racial inequalities in the risk of exiting homeownership. Our nonlinear decomposition results indicate that racial differences in family network resources explain a nontrivial portion of the racial gap in homeownership exit, but there is little evidence that the effects of kin resources on exit are moderated by race. Among both Black and White owners, having wealthier noncoresident kin does not lessen the negative impacts of adverse economic or health shocks on the probability of losing homeownership. Our findings have implications for policies and programs designed to buttress the ability of minority households, especially those in financial distress, to sustain the wealth-building state of homeownership. Keywords Homeownership exit . Racial disparities . Kin wealth . Kin poverty . Nonlinear
decomposition
* Gregory Sharp [email protected] Ellen Whitehead [email protected] Matthew Hall [email protected]
1
306A Blunt Hall, Department of Sociology, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, USA
2
North Quad (NQ), Room 217, Department of Sociology, Ball State University, Muncie, IN 47306, USA
3
295 Martha Van Rensselaer Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
G. Sharp et al.
Introduction Racial inequalities in homeownership have been long-standing and persistent, yet the majority of adults in the U.S. across all racial/ethnic groups aspire to own a home, even in the wake of the worst housing crisis in a century (McCabe 2018a; Reid 2014). This positive outlook toward homeownership is unsurprising given the many benefits (perceived and real) it confers, particularly wealth accumulation. There is, however, ample evidence that the financial returns of homeownership in terms of housing equity, total net worth, and capital gains are significantly lower for African American households than similar White households (Faber and Ellen 2016; Flippen 2004; Herbert et al. 2014; Killewald and Bryan 2016; Mayock and Malacrida 2018; Oliver and Shapiro 2006). Further, Black homeowners are more vulnerable to losing their homes and returning to renting than comparable White homeowners—a trend that coincided with the emergence of the subprime lending market that led to the housing market collapse (Reid et al. 2017; Rugh et al. 2015; Sharp and Hall 2014). These documented racially uneven patterns of homeownership exit, as well as the Black disadvantage in financial returns of ownership, elevate concerns that homeownership is a risky ende
Data Loading...
