White homebuyer preferences undermine progressive homeownership proposals for black Americans

Evidence

The wealth gap is gaining political traction as a critical issue for voters, and Democratic politicians and think tanks have proposed reforms, including increased black homeownership and with targeted enforcement of antidiscrimination in mortgage lending laws. But these are limited in their ability to truly reduce the black-white wealth gap. We saw in chapter 2 how the Democratic presidential candidates’ plans to increase homeownership included down payment assistance or a homesteading approach. But in that same chapter, we saw that there’s another factor few progressives openly discuss: how white homebuyer preferences dominate the market and eliminate black opportunity. — Dorothy A. Brown, The Whiteness of Wealth, 481

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Housing-market discrimination makes purportedly free market choices illusory — Luke W. Cole and Sheila R. Foster, From the Ground Up: Environmental…, 317; Market-dynamics siting outcomes remain racist once housing discrimination is factored in — Luke W. Cole and Sheila R. Foster, From the Ground Up: Environmental…, 336; Black occupancy raised Mozley Park property values despite white predictions — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of…, 179 (+15 more)
• yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: Housing-market discrimination makes purportedly free market choices illusory — Luke W. Cole and Sheila R. Foster, From the Ground Up: Environmental…, 317; Market-dynamics siting outcomes remain racist once housing discrimination is factored in — Luke W. Cole and Sheila R. Foster, From the Ground Up: Environmental…, 336; Black occupancy raised Mozley Park property values despite white predictions — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of…, 179 (+15 more)

Broader Connections

• White homebuyer preference, not borrower behavior, determines black home wealth gains #corroborates (0.96) — Dorothy A. Brown, Getting to Reparations, 1264
• Black homeownership yields less wealth because white buyers’ choices set appreciation rates. #expands (0.93) — Dorothy A. Brown, The Whiteness of Wealth, 208
• Present-day white homebuyer behavior, not past policy alone, sustains housing market racism #corroborates (0.92) — Dorothy A. Brown, Getting to Reparations, 1280
• Purported neighborhood preferences are themselves produced by racial discourse #complicates (0.79) — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 384