Black Homeowners Are Worse Off Today Than They Were 40 Years Ago

One of the compelling aspects of Ta-Nehisi Coates' cover story for The Atlantic last month making the case for reparations is that he focuses more on housing inequality in the 20th century than slave labor in the 17th through 19th centuries. Indeed, that was the key to telling whether someone bothered to actually read the essay before commenting on it. As Slate's Ben Mathis-Lilley pointed out, Coates' narrow focus on the practice of redlining in Chicago "turns the issue of race in America into a pressing discussion about work, wealth, and theft rather than an unresolvable grudge-match about bygone guilt." ("Narrow" being a relative term for a 16,000-word essay.)

Coates' story observed how difficult it is for black residents in Chicago to make and keep their homes. Now there's research to show how much harder African Americans struggle as homeowners. A new study demonstrates that, despite significant gains in residential equality, white households still have an advantage over black households when it comes to homeownership. Worse still, the changes in the market that led to the foreclosure crisis have essentially wipes out the gains made by black homeowners since the 1970s.