What will it take to address the persistent discrimination that drives down home values for Black families?

A recent LISC webcast tackled the question as part of an ongoing conversation about Project 10X, LISC’s $1 billion strategy to narrow racial gaps in health, wealth and opportunity. Equitable homeownership is a critical piece of the overarching Project 10X strategy.

The challenges are significant, noted Andre Perry, senior fellow at Brookings Institution and author of Know Your Price: Valuing Black Lives and Property in America’s Black Cities. He described data that shows homes in majority-Black communities are, on average, valued at 23 percent less than the same home would be in a white community (controlling for such things as neighborhood amenities, crime, walkability, etc.) That gap represents $156 billion in lost equity—enough capital to launch 4.4 million Black-owned business or support 8.1 million four-year college degrees for Black youth.

LISC is taking on the issue of wealth-building through homeownership in a number of ways—all driven by and tailored to communities, but also testing approaches that others can draw on to meet local needs, explained Denise Scott, LISC executive vice president for programs.

“I think the biggest impact of the program was that as it increased the value of individual homes with the [home repair] loans, it started to increase value across the market at a time when the market in Detroit was stalled, ” Scott said. “Housing values went up, and the market values went up. This helped people who might have otherwise walked away stay in their homes.“

“These initiatives are viable,” Perry added. “They can accelerate wealth creation. They just need funding to get to a scale where they have greater impact.”

Read the full article about dismantling discrimination in Black homeownership at LISC.