Homeownership and America's Financial Underclass

Why does America have a love affair with homeownership? For many, buying a home is no longer in their best interest and may harm their children’s educational opportunities. This book argues that US leaders need to re-evaluate housing policies and develop new ones that ensure that all Americans have access to affordable housing, whether rented or owned. After describing common myths, the book shows why the circumstances now faced by America’s financial underclass make it impossible for them to benefit from homeownership because they cannot afford to buy homes. It then exposes the risks of ‘home buying while brown or black,’ discussing US policies that made it easier for whites to buy homes, but harder and more costly for blacks and Latinos to do so. The book argues that remaining racial discrimination and certain demographic features continue to make it harder for blacks and Latinos to receive homeownership’s promised benefits.

Author Biography

Mechele Dickerson is the Arthur L. Moller Chair in Bankruptcy Law and Practice at the University of Texas, Austin School of Law. She is a former Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the University of Texas Law School and previously taught on the law faculty of William and Mary Law School. She is the author of more than 30 articles, essays and book chapters on consumer debt and bankruptcy, and her writings have appeared in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Boston Review, the Austin American-Statesman, the Foundation Press, the Michigan Law Review, the Emory Law Review, the Minnesota Law Review, the Indiana Law Journal, and other law journals.