In new research conducted in partnership with local housing and economic development partners, including the Alliance, the Family Housing Fund, and the Center for Economic Inclusion, we investigated how homeownership patterns have stripped wealth from Black homeowners in recent decades and which neighborhoods have been most affected. We find changes in local and regional policy can reduce homeownership inequities in the Twin Cities, if designed intentionally and implemented effectively.

Opportunities to address the roots of the problem

The inequities Black families experience in the Twin Cities illustrates the larger systemic barriers surrounding race and opportunity in the United States. But changes in policy and practice can encourage better outcomes, despite the magnitude of this problem. Through our work with local partners in the Twin Cities, we’ve identified several actions policymakers at the city, county, and state governmental levels can consider as they collaborate with advocates and community members to build opportunities for more equitable access to homeownership, as they shore up the rental housing situation to offer alternatives where buying a home isn’t possible:

  • Allocate additional local and state funding for homeownership counseling to aid families of color in their search for good financing options for new home purchases and to prevent existing homeowners from being foreclosed upon.
  • Increase down payment assistance support for families with low incomes, with an emphasis on Black families who already live in, or are interested in purchasing a home in, gentrifying neighborhoods.
  • Dedicate new city, county, and state funding to build and renovate affordable rental housing for families with low and moderate incomes.
  • Stabilize rent in neighborhoods that have been particularly vulnerable to gentrification.
  • Strengthen anti eviction laws, building upon progress by the State of Minnesota and cities like Minneapolis that’s made it more difficult to evict people from their homes without just cause.

Read the full article about how affordable homeownership is increasingly inaccessible for black families in the Twin Cities by Yonah Freemark, Eleanor Noble, Yipeng Su, Kimberly Burrowes at Urban Institute.