Across metropolitan America, housing prices are lower where the Black population share is higher. Over 3.2 million owner-occupied homes in Black-majority neighborhoods across America have been collectively devalued by $156 billion. The devaluation of homes in Black-majority neighborhoods is a systematic and nearly ubiquitous failure. Addressing the current devaluation and preventing future devaluation requires structural innovations in public policy and private markets. It is time for change. It is time for innovative solutions. It is time for a new generation of structural innovations that enable homeowners in Black-majority neighborhoods to realize the value and appreciation of their assets. Valuing Homes in Black-Majority Neighborhoods is a far-reaching effort of the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program and Ashoka’s Economic Architecture Project to find solutions for housing devaluation. We will map the most promising innovations from across the country and invite participants to a collaborative challenge with up to $1 million of prize funds. We are looking for people who are proximate to the problem of home devaluation and have a market- or policy-based innovation. If that is you, or if you’re interested in supporting change and offering your solutions to the problem, we want to hear from you.
Homeownership lies at the heart of the American Dream, representing success, opportunity, and wealth. However, for many of its citizens, America deferred that dream. For much of the 20th century, the
The homeownership rate among Black households remains stubbornly low, even as the overall U.S. homeownership rate has risen in recent years. That is a key reason why Black families have a median net w
Today, Ashoka and the Brookings Institution announced the start of an initiative to foster a new generation of structural innovations to address systemic racism in the housing market and enable homeo
