Report: Milwaukee Racial Homeownership Gap Increasing

A report from the Wisconsin Policy Forum highlights the city’s “acute racial equity challenges” when it comes to homeownership rates. According to a press release about the report, “Our March 2022 research brief showed that the city’s large racial disparities in homeownership widened over the last decade.”

The report compares Milwaukee with 10 peer cities from across the nation, noting that “Milwaukee has the lowest homeownership rate among Black and Hispanic households combined (28.9%) among the 11 peer cities.” The city also used federal funds to support existing homeowners rather than potential homebuyers at higher rates than other cities, the report found. 

“Advancing racial equity in homeownership is especially important given that Black and Hispanic residents comprise more than half of the city’s total population. Doing so now may be particularly urgent and challenging given rising home prices and mortgage rates are reducing housing affordability in Wisconsin and nationally.”

The report points out that Milwaukee “stands out among selected peer cities for having a public-private strategic plan explicitly focused on advancing racial equity in homeownership,” but the lack of a centralized housing agency and a targeted effort to promote homeownership among underrepresented communities are hampering efforts to advance racial equity in housing.