Housing Stratification Research Articles

Residential Segregation and Minority Home Ownership

This paper analyzes the impact of residential segregation on the home ownership of Black, White, and Hispanic preretirement adults. By combining individual and household level data from the Health and Retirement Study with metropolitan level characteristics from the 1990 census, I am able to identify the unique effect of metropolitan residential segregation on minority home ownership. And, by considering the disparate impact of five dimensions of segregation on home ownership I illustrate the mechanisms through which this effect operates. Results clearly demonstrate the negative effect of segregation on minority home ownership, with key differences between Blacks and Hispanics and across dimensions of segregation that highlight the contextual nature of housing stratification and the importance of urban population dynamics to racial and ethnic housing inequality.