Family Marital Status and Living Arrangements - Home Ownership

For most Americans, owning one's home is the American dream. Unfortunately, for many Americans, especially minorities, being able to purchase a home can be difficult. Census Bureau figures revealed that in 2002, 74.5 percent of non-Hispanic white householders owned their homes, but only 47.3 percent of African-Americans,

TABLE 2.7
Household relationship and living arrangements of children under 18 years¹, by age, sex, race, and Hispanic origin², March 2000
(Numbers in thousands)

Total United States	Total under 18 years1	Under 1 year	1-2 years	3-5 years	6-8 years	9-11 years	12-14 years	15-17 years	Total under 6	Total 6-11	Total 12-17
White (continued)
Living with father only
Child of householder	2,138	153	243	294	331	395	366	357	690	725	723
Grandchild of householder	163	11	26	30	35	26	16	20	66	61	36
Other relative of householder	61	5	11	5	7	12	15	5	21	20	21
Nonrelative of householder	65	5	2	16	13	5	11	13	24	18	24
Living with neither parent3
Grandchild of householder	676	24	67	124	106	129	113	113	215	235	226
Other relative of householder	456	24	51	62	55	52	73	139	136	107	212
Foster child	140	7	17	20	17	16	37	25	45	33	62
Other nonrelative of householder	480	20	41	60	59	72	66	163	121	131	229
In group quarters
In group quarters	14	-	4	2	4	0	1	2	6	5	3
Black
Total	11,412	560	1,208	1,874	1,952	2,157	1,902	1,758	3,643	4,109	3,660
Both sexes
In household
Living with both parents	4,286	171	408	706	688	804	744	765	1,284	1,493	1,509
Living with mother only	5,596	322	665	934	1,030	1,069	872	704	1,921	2,099	1,576
Living with father only	484	31	51	83	80	71	90	77	166	151	167
Living with neither parent	1,046	36	85	151	154	212	194	213	273	366	407
Not in household
In group quarters	1	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	1
Living with both parents
Child of householder	4,192	160	389	667	678	794	744	761	1,215	1,472	1,505
Grandchild of householder	77	10	19	33	8	6	1	-	62	14	1
Other relative of householder	16	-	-	6	3	4	-	4	6	7	4
Living with mother
Child of householder	4,690	207	511	754	894	933	756	637	1,471	1,827	1,392
Grandchild of householder	643	102	131	130	88	81	64	48	362	169	111
Other relative of householder	114	10	12	20	13	27	21	12	42	40	32
Nonrelative of householder	148	3	11	31	35	28	32	8	45	63	40
Living with father only
Child of householder	403	26	44	70	53	60	83	67	140	113	151
Grandchild of householder	46	-	5	11	19	6	2	3	16	25	5
Other relative of householder	23	6	-	2	1	5	4	5	8	7	9
Nonrelative of householder	12	-	2	-	7	-	-	2	2	7	2
Living with neither parent3
Grandchild of householder	599	14	44	91	88	121	123	119	149	208	242
Other relative of householder	281	15	20	40	44	63	36	63	76	106	99
Foster child	73	5	-	13	11	15	20	9	18	26	29
Other nonrelative of householder	93	2	21	7	11	14	15	23	30	25	38
In group quarters
In group quarters	1	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	1
Asians and Pacific Islanders
Total	3,047	146	385	489	473	482	535	537	1,020	954	1,072
Both sexes
In household
Living with both parents	2,454	125	329	404	373	385	424	414	858	758	838
Living with mother only	428	10	36	60	69	80	87	86	106	149	173
Living with father only	76	5	9	13	24	9	6	11	27	33	17
Living with neither parent	88	6	11	11	7	8	18	26	29	15	44
Living with both parents
Child of householder	2,395	117	313	389	368	376	421	410	819	745	831
Grandchild of householder	33	6	12	1	5	7	1	-	20	12	1
Other relative of householder	26	1	5	14	-	1	2	4	19	1	5

48.2 percent of Hispanics, and 54.7 percent of APIs owned their homes. (See Table 2.8.) These numbers actually reflect significant growth in the purchase of homes by minorities. From 1994 to 2002 the home ownership rate for non-Hispanic whites grew from 70 percent to 74.5 percent, while for Hispanics it grew from 41.2 percent to 48.2 percent and for African-Americans it improved from 42.3 percent to 47.3 percent. During this same period, APIs' home ownership grew from 51.3 to 54.7 percent.

Growth of Home Ownership

A number of factors were responsible for the growth of minority home ownership in the 1990s. The Clinton administration helped to provide greater lending opportunities

TABLE 2.7
Household relationship and living arrangements of children under 18 years¹, by age, sex, race, and Hispanic origin², March 2000
(Numbers in thousands)

Total United States	Total under 18 years1	Under 1 year	1-2 years	3-5 years	6-8 years	9-11 years	12-14 years	15-17 years	Total under 6	Total 6-11	Total 12-17
Asians and Pacific Islanders (continued)
Living with mother only
Child of householder	335	1	32	45	42	73	72	69	78	115	142
Grandchild of householder	62	2	2	16	20	5	14	3	20	25	18
Other relative of householder	20	5	2	-	4	2	-	8	6	6	8
Nonrelative of householder	11	2	0	-	2	1	0	6	2	3	6
Living with father only
Child of householder	59	5	8	11	16	6	2	11	25	22	13
Grandchild of householder	9	-	1	-	8	1	-	-	1	8	-
Other relative of householder	7	-	-	2	0	2	3	-	2	2	3
Nonrelative of householder	0	-	-	-	-	-	0	-	-	-	0
Living with neither parent3
Grandchild of householder	29	1	4	4	5	4	5	6	9	10	11
Other relative of householder	45	-	7	4	2	4	13	16	11	5	29
Foster child	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	1
Other nonrelative of householder	12	6	-	3	-	-	-	3	9	-	3
Hispanic1
Total	11,613	701	1,415	2,245	1,972	1,911	1,765	1,603	4,362	3,883	3,368
Both sexes
In household
Living with both parents	7,561	457	918	1,531	1,312	1,243	1,132	968	2,906	2,555	2,100
Living with mother only	2,919	162	334	524	485	497	488	430	1,020	981	918
Living with father only	506	51	86	95	87	76	62	47	233	164	109
Living with neither parent	626	31	77	95	88	96	83	156	203	184	239
Not in household
In group quarters	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	-	2
Living with both parents
Child of householder	7,240	411	861	1,461	1,261	1,214	1,096	935	2,734	2,475	2,031
Grandchild of householder	140	28	24	31	24	14	9	11	82	38	20
Other relative of householder	173	16	33	35	27	13	27	20	85	41	47
Nonrelative of householder	8	2	-	4	-	1	-	1	6	1	1
Living with mother only
Child of householder	2,270	94	216	382	383	426	402	367	692	809	769
Grandchild of householder	340	44	80	89	46	32	38	12	212	78	50
Other relative of householder	181	21	22	26	28	17	29	39	68	45	68
Nonrelative of householder	128	3	17	27	27	22	18	13	48	49	31
Living with father only
Child of householder	402	38	71	82	66	61	41	43	191	127	84
Grandchild of householder	45	5	9	10	10	6	5	-	24	16	5
Other relative of householder	46	4	5	2	7	9	13	4	12	17	18
Nonrelative of householder	12	4	2	-	4	-	2	-	6	4	2
Living with neither parent3
Grandchild of householder	181	9	28	30	30	33	27	26	67	63	52
Other relative of householder	251	13	33	35	28	39	31	72	81	67	103
Foster child	47	2	5	9	9	3	11	9	15	11	20
Other nonrelative of householder	147	7	11	21	21	21	15	49	40	43	64
In group quarters
In group quarters	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	-	2
- Represents zero or rounds to zero.
1All children under 18, excluding householders, subfamily reference people, and their spouses.
2Hispanics may be of any race.
3Includes ever married grandchildren under 18 (excluded prior to 1998).
SOURCE: "Table C2. Household Relationship and Living Arrangements of Children under 18 Years, by Age, Sex, Race, Hispanic Origin, and Metropolitan Residence: March 2000," in America's Families and Living Arrangements, U.S. Census Bureau, Washington, DC, 2000

for minorities by revitalizing the Federal Housing Administration and improving enforcement of the Community Reinvestment Act, passed by Congress in 1977 to encourage banks and other lending institutions to invest in the communities in which they operate. Furthermore, the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development pressured the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) to initiate programs to help minority and low-income borrowers in securing mortgages. Fannie Mae is a private company created by Congress in 1938 to improve the housing industry during the Great Depression. Its smaller counterpart, Freddie Mac, is a shareholder-owned company created by Congress in 1970 to support home ownership. Both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac buy mortgages and package them into bonds backed

TABLE 2.8
Homeownership rates by citizenship status and race and ethnicity of householder, 1994–2002

		Race of housholder			Ethnicity of householder
Citizenship status	United States1	White, total	Non-Hispanic white	Black	Asian and Pacific Islander	Hispanic (of any race)	Non-Hispanic (of any race)
Total
1994	64.0	67.7	70.0	42.3	51.3	41.2	65.9
1995	64.7	68.7	70.9	42.7	50.8	42.1	66.7
19962	65.4	69.1	71.7	44.1	50.8	42.8	67.4
1997	65.7	69.3	72.0	44.8	52.8	43.3	67.8
1998	66.3	70.0	72.6	45.6	52.6	44.7	68.3
1999	66.8	70.5	73.2	46.3	53.1	45.5	68.9
2000	67.4	71.1	73.8	47.2	52.8	46.3	69.5
2001	67.8	71.6	74.3	47.7	53.9	47.3	69.9
2002	67.9	71.8	74.5	47.3	54.7	48.2	70.0
Native-born citizen3
1994	65.7	69.3	70.3	42.9	62.0	46.3	66.6
1995	66.6	70.3	71.3	43.2	63.4	47.0	67.5
19962	67.4	70.9	72.1	44.9	58.6	48.1	68.4
1997	67.8	71.2	72.4	45.8	58.5	48.6	68.7
1998	68.5	71.9	73.0	46.6	58.2	50.8	69.3
1999	69.0	72.5	73.7	47.4	57.9	50.8	70.0
2000	69.7	73.1	74.4	48.3	59.4	51.5	70.7
2001	70.2	73.7	74.9	49.1	56.3	52.6	71.2
2002	70.3	73.9	75.0	48.5	56.5	53.8	71.2
Naturalized
1994	66.8	68.3	74.0	50.8	69.2	55.8	70.7
1995	67.6	69.9	74.6	51.7	67.1	58.4	70.9
19962	66.9	68.8	74.5	47.7	68.3	57.1	70.3
1997	65.8	67.2	74.3	45.3	69.4	56.0	69.7
1998	65.3	66.9	74.1	46.7	67.8	56.0	69.2
1999	66.1	67.5	73.9	49.9	68.8	58.5	69.3
2000	66.5	68.4	74.5	50.8	68.0	59.7	69.5
2001	67.7	69.0	73.3	50.4	71.1	62.7	69.8
2002	67.6	69.4	73.7	51.4	70.3	62.7	69.9
Noncitizen
1994	32.9	35.0	45.1	23.2	31.7	29.4	36.6
1995	33.2	35.7	44.1	25.1	30.4	30.1	36.7
19962	33.1	34.3	43.0	24.8	32.1	30.2	36.0
1997	32.9	34.3	43.3	23.0	33.1	29.5	36.4
1998	34.1	35.7	45.5	23.4	33.5	30.4	37.7
1999	33.8	35.7	43.9	20.4	33.5	31.3	36.4
2000	34.3	36.4	45.2	22.3	32.5	31.6	36.9
2001	34.2	36.5	45.8	21.8	32.7	31.3	37.0
2002	34.9	36.8	46.1	22.2	35.3	32.2	37.7
1Total includes races not shown separately.
2Race was imputed beginning in 1996.
3Includes those born in Puerto Rico or outlying areas and those born abroad to American parents.
SOURCE: "Table 7. Homeownership Rates by Citizenship Status and Race and Ethnicity of Householder: 1994 to 2002," Moving to America—Moving to Homeownership: 1994 to 2002, U.S. Census Bureau, Washington, DC, 2003 [Online] http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/housing/movingtoamerica2002/tab7.html [accessed March 11, 2004]

by the government and offered for sale to investors, thereby freeing up money for additional mortgage lending. In addition to these efforts, minority home ownership was also helped considerably by a strong economy and a robust stock market during the 1990s.

President George W. Bush also made minority home ownership a priority of his administration. In 2002 the president challenged the real estate industry to invest more than $1 trillion in an effort to increase the number of minority homeowners by at least 5.5 million families by the end of the decade. Acknowledging that many Americans can afford a monthly mortgage payment but lack the funds for a down payment, in 2003 the president signed the American Dream Downpayment Assistance Act, authorizing $200 million per year in down payment assistance to at least 40,000 low-income families. In January 2004 Fannie Mae announced that it planned to help 1.8 million minority families buy their first home in the next decade. Private-sector real estate lenders were likely to follow suit in targeting minorities, in part as a simple acknowledgment of changing times. As the baby boom generation, born in the years following World War II, begins to leave the workforce, and because of the low birth rate of native-born Americans, minority immigrants (dominated by Hispanics) are expected to play an increasing role in the economy. The 1990s saw a major influx of immigrants, who at first typically rent their homes, but later become factors in the for-sale market. It is estimated that ten million immigrants will reach their peak home-buying years during the next decade, making them a market to be courted by real estate lenders. Aside from the benefits enjoyed by the individual, an increase in the number of minority home owners iss likely to help entire communities, improving such areas as safety and the quality of schools.