Landless Homeowners in Forgotten America: Identifying the Nexus Between Long-Term Poverty, Homeownership, and Land Tenure

Abstract

Several predominately rural regions and communities in the United States have experienced high poverty rates for long periods of time. Often forgotten or hidden from mainstream America, these areas are almost exclusively rural, isolated geographically, lack economic opportunities, and suffer from decades of disinvestment and double-digit poverty rates. Persistent poverty regions have many shared indices of economic distress; yet they also differ in terms of demographic and cultural composition, geography, and underlying economies. Another “shared difference, “ is the prevalence of unique land tenure issues such as contract for deeds, absentee ownership, mineral rights, heirs’ property, and tribal trust lands. Such land-home arrangements often complicate homeownership, wealth accumulation, and the provision of affordable housing. This research note introduces the nexus between land tenure, low-income homeownership, and persistent poverty communities from a comprehensive perspective with the goal of beginning a discussion on how to inform policies and strategies that assist low- and poverty-income homeowners realize their full asset and wealth accumulation potential.