The Racial Wealth Gap is the Housing Gap
“Homeownership is the number one net-worth building asset for the average household in the United States. Home equity makes up the largest portion of the net worth of the typical American household (and constitutes more than half the net worth of the typical low-income American household).” (The Racial Wealth Gap is The Housing Gap, 2021).
A recent publication from the Office of Lieutenant Governor Denny Heck, “The Racial Wealth Gap Is The Housing Gap” highlights the two key factors of how the housing gap is directly correlated with the racial gap in America. Furthermore, the implications on the economy as the racial wealth gap continues to grow. “BIPOC Americans have lower homeownership rates, are disproportionately impacted by the nation’s housing affordability crisis, and are less able to build home equity than White Americans—primarily due to historical inequities and systemic racism in the housing market.” How does this affect the economy? Simply put, when a substantial portion of our nation’s population is held back from homeownership through systematic inequality in addition to the widespread housing affordability crisis, the whole economy is under distress.
We highly encourage you to read the full article, written by Ilina Logani and published by the Office of Lieutenant Governor Denny Heck HERE!
Segregation In Tacoma and Pierce County
The University of Washington Department of Civil Rights and Labor History Consortium has provided an interactive map that shows segregation and map of race throughout Tacoma and Pierce County from 1950-2020. Below is a map of Pierce County in the year of 1950, 1980, and 2020. You can see for yourself that the highest Black population is notably in the same areas (Hilltop, JBLM, and South Tacoma) over the course of 70+ years.
