Search Results
Journal Article
The Continuing Importance of Homeownership: Evidence from the Community Advantage Program
Before the mortgage finance crisis, borrowers obtained mortgages from local institutions with which they had an ongoing relationship; loans were carefully underwritten with a focus on borrowers? ability to repay, and were issued for long-term affordability. In the mortgage finance crisis, this stable approach to lending got turned on its head, with disastrous results. Losses associated with the crisis have left some questioning the efficacy of lending to LMI borrowers. However, one program, Self-Help?s Community Advantage Program (CAP), provides clear evidence that LMI borrowers can enter ...
Working Paper
The portfolios and wealth of low-income homeowners and renters: findings from an evaluation of Self-Help Ventures Fund’s Community Advantage Program
The distribution of wealth in the United States is more highly skewed than the distribution of income. Nowhere is this clearer than in the case of homeowners and renters. Those who own their homes typically have about 20 to 40 times more net wealth than those who rent. ; Although home equity plays a role in this growing disparity, it does not fully explain why renters hold fewer assets than homeowners. Even excluding home equity, renters are more than twice as likely to be asset-poor as are homeowners. Renters also hold a smaller range of assets than owners, suggesting that homeownership ...