{"id":93835,"date":"2025-03-13T10:05:44","date_gmt":"2025-03-13T10:05:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blacktwitter.com\/black-homeownership-faces-persistent-barriers-despite-hard-fought-gains-los-angeles-sentinel\/"},"modified":"2025-03-13T10:05:47","modified_gmt":"2025-03-13T10:05:47","slug":"black-homeownership-faces-persistent-barriers-despite-hard-fought-gains-los-angeles-sentinel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blacktwitter.com\/black-homeownership-faces-persistent-barriers-despite-hard-fought-gains-los-angeles-sentinel\/","title":{"rendered":"Black Homeownership Faces Persistent Barriers Despite Hard-Fought Gains \u2013 Los Angeles Sentinel"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Happy family standing outside their house. Courtesy Photo NNPA Newswire<\/p>\n<p>By Stacy M. Brown<br \/>BlackPressUSA.com Senior National Correspondent<br \/>@StacyBrownMedia<\/p>\n<p>Sonia Reed believed she had achieved the American dream. In December 2024, the Black grandmother and former homeless individual became a homeowner in San Leandro, California. But her triumph quickly turned into a nightmare when neighbors began harassing her with racial slurs and vandalizing her property.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI worked so hard to finally have a place to call my own, and now I have to fear for my safety in my own home,\u201d Reed said.<\/p>\n<p>The Alameda County Sheriff\u2019s Office said it is investigating the incidents as hate crimes. For many, vandalism is part of an ongoing pattern where Black homeowners have faced some kind of discrimination. Reed\u2019s experience is far from isolated. Black Americans remain locked in a battle for homeownership, confronted by systemic inequities, economic challenges, and, in some cases, environmental disasters that threaten to strip them of generational wealth.<\/p>\n<p>A new <a href=\"https:\/\/www.urban.org\/urban-wire\/black-housing-wealth-varies-across-local-markets-despite-recent-improvement-black?&amp;utm_source=newsletters&amp;utm_campaign=UIU\">Urban Institute report<\/a> revealed that Black homeownership rates remain far behind those of white Americans. Researchers said it\u2019s a gap rooted in decades of discriminatory housing policies, redlining, and predatory lending practices. \u201cHomeownership remains one of the most significant drivers of wealth, yet Black families face disproportionate barriers to achieving this milestone,\u201d researchers wrote.<\/p>\n<p>The crisis extends beyond acts of overt racism. In January 2025, devastating wildfires tore through Altadena, California, a historically Black community with a homeownership rate of 81.5 percent\u2014far higher than the national average. Thousands of homes were reduced to ashes and rubble, leaving families displaced. Many now face the daunting task of rebuilding and the looming threat of gentrification.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDevelopers are circling like vultures,\u201d said longtime Altadena resident James Carter. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to rebuild, but the fear is that we won\u2019t be able to afford to stay.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Economic barriers remain a defining struggle. Brooke Scott, a litigation assistant in Los Angeles, calculated that achieving homeownership and financial security requires an annual household income of $300,000\u2014far beyond what many Black families can attain. Housing costs, healthcare, taxes, and child-rearing expenses leave little room for savings or investment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe numbers just don\u2019t add up,\u201d Scott said. \u201cEven with two incomes, we\u2019re barely able to put away anything for a down payment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Urban Institute\u2019s findings represent a clear picture of the obstacles Black homeowners face. Disparities in income, lending practices, and generational wealth accumulation continue to create barriers that make Black homeownership an increasingly difficult goal. While federal and local initiatives have sought to close the gap, the road ahead remains steep.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWithout significant policy changes and investment in Black communities, the homeownership gap will persist for generations to come,\u201d the Urban Institute report warns.<\/p>\n<p>For Reed, Scott, and the residents of Altadena, the challenges of Black homeownership are deeply personal. Whether confronting racial harassment, economic hurdles, or the aftermath of natural disasters, their stories serve as a reminder that the fight for equity in housing is far from over. If these barriers persist, the promise of homeownership will remain an elusive dream for too many Black Americans.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe just want what everyone else has\u2014a fair shot at building a future,\u201d Carter asserted.<\/p>\n<p>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/lasentinel.net\/black-homeownership-faces-persistent-barriers-despite-hard-fought-gains.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Happy family standing outside their house. Courtesy Photo NNPA Newswire By Stacy M. BrownBlackPressUSA.com Senior National Correspondent@StacyBrownMedia Sonia Reed believed she had achieved the American dream. In December 2024, the Black grandmother and former homeless individual became a homeowner in San Leandro, California. But her triumph quickly turned into a nightmare when neighbors began harassing<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":93836,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-93835","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blacktwitter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blacktwitter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blacktwitter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blacktwitter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blacktwitter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93835"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blacktwitter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93835\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":93837,"href":"https:\/\/blacktwitter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93835\/revisions\/93837"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blacktwitter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blacktwitter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blacktwitter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blacktwitter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}