patrick.net

Houseownership rates for Americans under 35 have fallen by more than 20 percent since 2004 ...

Middle and lower-income home owning families are far less likely to benefit from these housing policies. The Obama administration failed spectacularly in protecting underwater mortgage holders from refinancing their homes, even as the administration earmarked $75 billion for the purpose. According to another reportfrom PPP, the Home Affordable Mortgage Program, instituted under Obama, ultimately only helped 558,000 families trying to refinance their homes, even as mortgage companies were forced to shell out a $26 billion joint settlement for creating fraudulent documents meant to ensure families were forced from their homes.

The result? Of the 9.3 million foreclosed households, less than a third are likely to purchase a home again. Black and Latino households were particularly undermined by the failures of the Obama administration. Black housing equity declined, on average, by $16,700 during the recession, contributing to a massive uptick in racial wealth disparities.

In a Washington Post op-ed on the declining homeownership rate, Charles Lane observed: “If the Great Recession taught anything, it was that, despite decades of rhetoric about the ‘American Dream’ from real estate lobbyists, politicians and well-meaning low-income-housing advocates, homeownership is not a surefire ticket into the middle class. It can be downright risky.”