CLASP, February 12, 2020: Buying My Home & Building Black Wealth—A Step Toward Closing the Racial Wealth Gap
A couple of months ago, I achieved one of the biggest accomplishments of my life thus far—I bought my first home. Buying a house is the quintessential American dream. Historically, however, every American hasn’t been able to partake in this dream. As I went through the home purchasing process, I was asked by an older White woman why I would buy a home as a young single woman with no children. She went on to say that houses were burdensome, and renting takes away the stress of homeowner responsibilities. I understood what she was trying to say. However, for me and so many other Black folks, purchasing a home is so much deeper. Property ownership is one of America’s greatest wealth builders. And being part of a community of color that has been deprived of wealth for so long, I don’t have time to wait on a spouse and children to begin my wealth-building journey. As a Black woman, owning my home brings our nation one step closer to closing the racial wealth gap—created through discriminatory policymaking with origins deep in American history.
