Lease-to-own programs allow future homeowners to rent out a home for a specific amount of time with the intent of purchasing at the end of the lease. Nonprofit and government entities have historically deployed these programs as a means to increase homeownership in their local communities. Landis is a new private company seeking to scale the lease-to-own model to U.S. markets that are most in need of strengthening homeownership and wealth-building. Landis’s public goal is to design a lease-to-own model that increases homeownership for populations that have low homeownership rates like African Americans. However, there is a history of lease-to-own models that exploit the American dream of homeownership and simply mask high rents with false promises of ownership
For most Americans, homeownership is the greatest wealth-building asset. However, Black homeownership continues to significantly lag behind White homeownership. This brief explores the potential for L
