HOME - Insights & 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.
Presentations from "Latino Homeownership: Research, Insights & Solutions"
UnidosUS partnered with the Urban Institute on a call for papers that sought to close knowledge gaps on the challenges and opportunities for advancing Latino homeownership.
Together and through our published 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.
We were pleased to partner with Urban Institute to showcase these research papers on Jan. 30. If you missed the event, watch the recording of “Latino Homeownership: Research, Insights, and Solutions” and explore the research presentations below.
George Washington University
- Paul Carrillo, PhD, Professor of Economics and lead researcher presented “The Spatial Distribution of the Homeownership Racial Gap,” which analyzed the spatial distribution of the white– Hispanic homeownership rate gap, exploring the roles of endowments and location characteristics like amenities and prices.
Puerto Rican Cultural Center
- Ivis Garcia, Associate Professor, Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning, and lead researcher, presented “Housing Interventions for Latino Communities in High-Cost, Low-Supply Markets: A Case Study of Puerto Rico Town (Barrio Borikén), Chicago,” which 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.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Ashley Hernandez, Assistant Professor, Department of City and Regional Planning and lead researcher, presented “Transforming Barrios through ‘The ELACC Way’,” which analyzed how East Los Angeles Community Corporation (ELACC) and its organizational allies characterize and map the challenges they face in promoting Latino homeownership.
Housing Assistance Council
- Manda LaPorte, Research Associate, presented “Colonias & Homeownership: Opportunities for Increased Homeownership in Colonias,” which investigated the dynamics and potential avenues for enhancing homeownership opportunities for Hispanic households within Colonias Investment Areas.
Urban Institute
- Linna Zhu, Senior Research Associate, presented “Climate Risks to Latino Homeowners and Communities: A Landscape Scan of National Trends and Local Insights,” which aimed to share policy solutions that can provide financial assistance and emphasize what can be done to climate-proof homes across Latino communities.
Office Of
- Olivia Arena, Urban Planning Associate, presented “Housing Supply Solutions in Predominantly Latino Cities,” which 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.
Texas A&M University
- Jonathan Halket, Assistant Professor of Finance and lead researcher, presented “Credit and The Returns to Homeownership Across Neighborhoods,” which 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.
Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies
- Patricia Bravo Morales, Research Assistant, presented “Hispanic Homeownership: A Life Cycle Perspective,” which explored factors affecting older Hispanic homeowners’ ability to maintain housing equity and pass it on to the next generation.
National and State Level Dashboards for Hispanic Homeownership
A Research Agenda to Advance Latino Homeownership
“Priorities for Advancing Latino Homeownership: A Research Agenda”, originally published in 2023, poses the critical questions we must answer to expand and sustain Latino homeownership throughout the United States.
Developed in a collaboration between the Urban Institute and UnidosUS as part of UnidosUS’s HOME initiative, the agenda focuses on understanding the historical context, unique structural challenges, macro-level conditions, housing supply dynamics and the impact of financial technology on Latino 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.
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.
LHRAN Members Spotlight
The Latino Homeownership Research Advisory Network (LHRAN) is comprised of cross-discipline Latino academics and researchers.
José Loya
Assistant Professor in Urban Planning at the University of California Los Angeles
David Garcia
Policy Director, Up For Growth
Roberto Quercia
Harris Distinguished Professor in the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Zaire Dinzey-Flores
Associate Professor in the Department of Latino and Caribbean Studies and the Department of Sociology at Rutgers University
Atticus Jaramillo
Assistant Professor in the College of Architecture of Planning and Landscape Architecture at the University of Arizona
Raul Santiago-Bartolomei
Assistant Professor at the Graduate School of Planning of the University of Puerto Rico-Río Piedras
Paul E. Carrillo
Professor of Economics and International Affairs at George Washington University
Noerena Limón
CEO of Mariposa Strategies LLC