HOME - Insights and Research
Insights & Research
Research on Latinos and homeownership to advance evidence-based policy and market solutions.
The Home Ownership Means Equity (HOME) initiative is dedicated to transforming the economic trajectory of Latinos by advancing systemic change to add 4 million new Hispanic homeowners by 2030. In pursuit of this goal, the initiative emphasizes informed decision-making and assessment, leveraging research and data analytics to inform policies and practices that will increase homeownership rates within the Latino community. The Urban Institute, an independent nonprofit research organization, is a partner with the HOME initiative providing research and data analytics to inform and assess its goals.
Latino homeownership: Research, insights & solutions
We want to close knowledge gaps on the challenges and opportunities in advancing Latino homeownership. Together, with Urban Institute, and through our research agenda on Latino homeownership, we engaged with researchers, particularly those with relevant lived experience, to conduct research on topics that have been identified as knowledge gaps in our understanding of the barriers and opportunities to advance Latino homeownership.
On Jan. 30, we partnered with Urban Institute to showcase initial findings from these research papers. Below, you can explore the full research findings. If you missed our Jan. 30 event, watch the recording.
Place-based interventions
Manda LaPorte
Manda LaPorte, research associate, investigated the dynamics and potential avenues for enhancing homeownership opportunities for Hispanic households within Colonias Investment Areas.
Linna Zhu
Linna Zhu, senior research associate, aimed to share policy solutions that can provide financial assistance and emphasize what can be done to climate-proof homes across Latino communities.
Ivis Garcia
Ivis Garcia, associate professor of landscape architecture and urban planning and lead researcher, identified housing interventions that are especially impactful within the framework of the new initiative to designate Puerto Rico Town as a Community Sustainable Development District. This investigation is essential as the district has a disproportionate concentration of Puerto Ricans and other Latinos, coupled with high home prices and limited housing supply.
Ashley Hernandez
Ashley Hernandez, assistant professor, Department of City and Regional Planning, and lead researcher, analyzed how East Los Angeles Community Corporation (ELACC) and its organizational allies characterize and map the challenges they face in promoting Latino homeownership.
Housing supply & urban solutions
Olivia Arena
Olivia Arena, urban planning associate, examined how various housing supply policies at both city and state levels contribute to heightened rates of Latino homeownership in three predominantly Latino cities: South Gate, California; Hialeah, Florida; and Laredo, Texas.
Mortgage credit and generational wealth
Jonathan Halket
Jonathan Halket, assistant professor of finance and lead researcher, investigated the extent to which differences in Latino households’ access to credit are evident in the homeownership rates, house prices and rents within Hispanic-majority neighborhoods.
Patricia Bravo Morales
Patricia Bravo Morales, research assistant, explored factors affecting older Hispanic homeowners’ ability to maintain housing equity and pass it on to the next generation.
Spatial distribution & homeownership gaps
Paul Carrillo
Paul Carrillo, PhD, professor of economics and lead researcher, analyzed the spatial distribution of the white–Hispanic homeownership rate gap, exploring the roles of endowments and location characteristics like amenities and prices.
National and State Level Dashboards for Hispanic Homeownership
ITIN Mortgages
ITIN Mortgages: Barriers and Opportunities to Advance Latino Homeownership
Systemic barriers threaten the projected growth of Latino homeownership. One major obstacle is the lack of mainstream mortgage financing for holders who use an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN). Urban Institute’s research brief explores the potential to expand ITIN loans and how changing policies can bring much-needed liquidity to the ITIN mortgage market.
Accessing Mortgage Credit
Barriers to accessing mortgage credit
This research examines the barriers Latino homebuyers face in the mortgage underwriting process and explores ways be to enhance homeownership opportunities for Latino homebuyers. It includes key areas such as the debt-to-income ratio, credit history and down payments, to understand why Latino homeownership remains lower than white homeownership, even when controlling for age and income. For each of the three areas, the paper recommends policy solutions.
Latino Homeownership Research Advisory Network: Member spotlight
What will it take to add 4 million new Hispanic homeowners by 2030? Working together as community-based organizations, academics, researchers and policymakers.
Our Latino Homeownership Research Advisory Network (LHRAN) is a collaborative group of Latino academics and researchers from a diversity of disciplines. This network provides UnidosUS and our Affiliates with expert insights, as well as strategic guidance on research that can help us meet our goal and advance Latino homeownership opportunities for generations.
How are they working with us to enhance our collective impact?
- Developing and progressing our HOME research agenda.
- Informing our HOME policy agenda.
- Providing specialized expertise on housing and homeownership research, including:
- Climate resilience.
- Heirs’ property.
- Latino wealth gap.