NY Attorney General’s Report on Racial Disparities in Homeownership

New York Attorney General Letitia James released a new report today detailing deep racial disparities in homeownership and access to home financing across the state. Among the report’s top findings is a stark racial gap in homeownership rates in every region in New York, with white households owning their homes at nearly double the rate of households of color.

In Albany, NY, we one of the widest homeownership gaps between Black and white households in the entire United States.

The Attorney General’s report provides clear evidence that racist housing discrimination – both past and present – continues to harm our entire community.

During Habitat’s 35-year history in Albany, we have sought to help close the racial homeownership gap; Black homeowners make up more than 60% of the families who have partnered with us to build and purchase their home. But we must do more.

From subsidizing new construction and rehabs to making down payment assistance and access to credit more readily available for Black households, we know how to remove the barriers that currently shut out too many Black families from homeownership. The question is whether our public and private sectors will meet this challenge.

“New York has a responsibility to remedy the accumulated harms of discrimination,” the report states. “This will require bold action that lifts up communities that have been held back by a long history of discriminatory policies and practices.”

Last year, in collaboration with other housing and justice organizations, Habitat published an affordable housing platform. This policy paper provided real solutions to address the legacies of redlining and other historic injustices in the Albany’s neighborhoods, and our recommendations support the new findings from the Attorney General’s office.

Habitat is building at least 100 new homes in Albany over the next several years, which we will sell at an affordable price to first-time homebuyers. We have an explicit commitment to expand access to homeownership throughout our region, but we can’t do it alone.

Read more about Habitat’s Advancing Black Homeownership initiative.

Executive Director Christine Schudde was interviewed by WNYT in “Report: Black homeownership in Albany a fraction of white homeownership”.